CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Olympics: Sporting Legacy

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what plans his Department has to secure a sporting legacy from the London 2012 Olympics.

Hugh Robertson: In partnership with the Department for Education, my Department will seek to reverse the decline in competitive sport in schools through the creation of an Olympic-style school sport competition, allowing children in schools across the country to experience the incredible inspiration of the Games.
	In addition, London 2012 will deliver a new generation of sports facilities for the country and increase the exposure and sponsorship opportunities for all Olympic sports.
	Following the comprehensive spending review, we have been able to protect elite athlete funding for London 2012 and the start of the Rio cycle, increase funding to our major sports events budget, preserve the Whole Sport Plans and intend to announce next month how we will deliver a community legacy from London 2012.

BBC: Finance

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport on what date his Department first held discussions with the BBC on the transfer of responsibility for  (a) free television licences for those aged over 75 and  (b) BBC World Service.

Edward Vaizey: holding answer 25 October 2010
	The Government began discussions with the BBC about the new licence fee settlement on 12 October.

BBC: Finance

Ivan Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport what discussions his Department has had with the BBC Trust on its estimate of savings required from the BBC budget consequent on  (a) the six year TV licence fee freeze and  (b) the transfer of responsibility for the World Service.

Edward Vaizey: holding answer 25 October 2010
	The BBC's new funding settlement will run from 2013-14 to 2016-17 and will be preceded by a freeze in the level of the licence fee at £145.50 in the remaining two years of the current settlement, 2011-12 and 2012-13. As part of the new settlement, the BBC will fund the BBC World Service from 2014-15 (not 2013-14, as incorrectly stated in paragraph 2.90 of the Treasury publication Spending Review 2010 [Cm 7942]).
	The overall impact of the new settlement, which will continue to hold the level of the licence fee at £145.50, will require the BBC to achieve a 16% cash-releasing efficiency target, net of implementation costs, over the four years to 2016-17.

Departmental Sick Leave

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how many days his Department has lost to staff sickness in each year since 1997; and what estimate he made of the cost to his Department of sickness absence in each such year.

John Penrose: The table shows the number of days the Department lost to staff sickness and the estimated cost of sickness absence in each year since 2003.
	The cost of sickness absence data prior to 2003 could be provided only at a disproportionate cost.
	
		
			   Total number of working days lost  Cost of absence (£) 
			 2003-04 1,580 205,400 
			 2004-05 1,577 205,010 
			 2005-06 1,556 247,404 
			 2006-07 1,449 241,983 
			 2007-08 2,085 377,385 
			 2008-09 1,944 346,032 
			 2009-10 2,211 360,393

Members: Correspondence

Gerald Kaufman: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport when he plans to reply to the letter of 6 September 2010 from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton on Mr B. Webb.

Hugh Robertson: I responded to the letter of 6 September 2010 about football governance from the right hon. Member for Manchester, Gorton on 29 September 2010.
	The response was e-mailed directly to the parliamentary office of the right hon. Member.

Swimming: Concessions

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport how many people participated in free swimming for those under the age of 16 and over the age of 60 years; what the cost to the public purse was of those schemes; what estimate he made of the number of swimming sessions provided under the scheme; and whether he has made an estimate of the effect on the number of people who regularly swim of the ending of those schemes.

Hugh Robertson: Data on the number of free swims recorded by all 261 local authorities participating in the Free Swimming Programme are available on our website at:
	http://www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/research_and_statistics/6274.aspx
	PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) was commissioned in April 2009 to undertake an independent evaluation of the Free Swimming Programme in England. It assessed:
	The impact of the Programme, specifically the extent to which it had increased the number of swims and the number of swimmers;
	The lessons learned, in particular evidence of what worked, how, in what context and for whom; and
	The benefits and value for money of the Programme, focusing on the health and consequent economic benefits of swimming participation.
	The report can be downloaded on the Department's website at:
	http://www.culture.gov.uk/publications/7190.aspx
	A total of £25,951,788 from the £40 million resource funding allocated for 2010-11 has been saved by ending the Free Swimming Programme for the under 16s and over 60s.
	An additional £25 million of capital funding allocated for the programme in 2010-11 has also been saved.

SCOTLAND

British Summer Time

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what research his Department has  (a) commissioned and  (b) evaluated in the last 20 years on the potential effects on Scotland of changes in the use of British Summer Time.

Michael Moore: In January 1996 the Scotland Office published the interim report 'The effect of introducing Single/Double Summer Time on road safety in Scotland.' The Scottish Office also collaborated with the Department of Transport in the joint commissioning of research undertaken by the Transport Research Laboratory to inform the report it published in October 1998, 'A new assessment of the likely effects on road accidents of adopting SDST.'

Devolution: Scotland

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent issues relating to the devolution settlement the Advocate-General has considered.

Michael Moore: The hon. Member asked a similar question of my right hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Scotland on 21 July 2010,  Official Report, column 340.
	Since 21 July the Advocate-General for Scotland has received a total of 1,149 minutes notifying him of devolution issues of which 1,144 relate to criminal matters and five to civil matters.
	The Advocate-General, along with myself and colleagues, has also been working on preparations for the forthcoming Scotland Bill which will deliver our coalition commitment and strengthen the devolution settlement for Scotland.

Green Investment Bank

Ann McKechin: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what discussions he has had with the Scottish Executive on the creation of the Green Investment Bank; what estimate he has made of the proportion of the bank's funds which is likely to be spent in Scotland in the next comprehensive spending review period; and if he will make a statement.

Michael Moore: I have regular discussions with the Scottish Executive on a range of matters including on the Green Investment Bank. Of the allocated £1 billion UK-wide funding, £250 million will be made available for investment in green infrastructure in Scotland on the basis that the Scottish Executive agrees to the drawdown of funds from the Scottish Fossil Fuel Levy surplus. No further funding commitment has been made as yet, as the precise nature of the Green Investment Bank is subject to further design and testing work.

Public Finance

Peter Bone: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what recent assessment has he made of the effect on public services in Scotland of the outcome of the comprehensive spending review.

Michael Moore: For Scotland, the spending review provides a fair deal in tough times. The Scottish Government's budget over the spending review period will fall by less than the UK average in real terms. It is for the Scottish Government to decide how to allocate its budget across the public services it controls. The UK Government will cut waste and has made tough choices in order to put public services and the welfare system on to a sustainable footing, while protecting the most vulnerable.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Parliamentary Education Service

Jo Swinson: To ask the hon. Member for Middlesbrough, representing the House of Commons Commission if the House of Commons Commission will consider amending the objectives of the Parliamentary Education Service in line with recommendation 4 of the report of the Speaker's Conference on parliamentary representation.

Stuart Bell: Recommendation 4 of the report of the Speaker's Conference on parliamentary representation recommended that the objectives of the Parliamentary Education Service should in future include encouraging a wider range of people to become candidates for election to Parliament.
	The Management Board responded to this recommendation (in HC 449 2009-10) as follows:
	School children visiting Westminster reflect a cross-section of society, and thus represent a powerful opportunity to encourage broader engagement with Parliament. It is not an objective of Parliament's Education Service (or the Parliamentary Outreach service) explicitly to encourage people to stand as candidates, but rather to explain the party system and the representational role in the context of effective engagement with parliamentary processes.
	There are no plans to amend the objectives beyond this, but attention is drawn to the high-quality resources available which contribute directly to raising awareness and understanding of the role of Members. "MP For a Week" is an award-winning online game which explores the role of Members and features MPs describing their work. Also now available is a new film "The General Election Explained" which follows the fortunes of prospective candidates in a specific constituency through to the results of the 2010 election. Other activities such as the Youth Parliament are also aimed at improving the understanding and appreciation of the work of Members and thereby encouraging a diverse range of people to consider a future role as a parliamentarian.

LEADER OF THE HOUSE

House Business Committee

Peter Bone: To ask the Leader of the House what progress has been made on the establishment of a House Business Committee.

George Young: The Government are committed to establishing a House Business Committee by the third year of this Parliament. The Backbench Business Committee has got off to a good start, and we shall seek its views on how the House Business Committee might operate.

INDEPENDENT PARLIAMENTARY STANDARDS AUTHORITY COMMITTEE

Complaints

Helen Jones: To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, pursuant to the answer of 27 July 2010,  Official Report, columns 952-53W, on complaints, what criteria the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority uses to classify as an official complaint representations received  (a) by correspondence and  (b) by other means.

Charles Walker: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. I have asked IPSA to reply.
	 Letter from Andrew McDonald:
	As Interim Chief Executive of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking pursuant to the Answer of 27 July 2010, Official Report, columns 952-53W, on complaints, what criteria the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority uses to classify as an official complaint representations received (a) by correspondence and (b) by other means. 18421
	IPSA's complaints procedure is published on IPSA's website under "Publications". The procedure sets out the criteria. Any official complaints need to be submitted in writing in order for IPSA to be able fully to investigate the complaint and provide a comprehensive response to the complainant.

Members: Allowances

Anne McIntosh: To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Speaker's Committee for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, in respect of how many claims submitted by hon. Members and due for settlement in  (a) April and  (b) September 2010 the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority has yet to make payment; what the reasons are for the time taken to make payment in such cases; and if he will make a statement.

Charles Walker: The answer requested falls within the responsibility of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. I have asked IPSA to reply.
	 Letter from Andrew McDonald:
	As Interim Chief Executive of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking in respect of how many claims submitted by hon. Members and due for settlement in (a) April and (b) September 2010 the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority has yet to make payment; and what the reasons are for the time taken to make payment in such cases. (17689)
	IPSA's expenses scheme came into force on 7 May 2010. No claims pre-dating 7 May therefore fall within IPSA's remit and no claims made before 7 May are therefore outstanding. It is for the House of Commons to reimburse expenditure prior to 7 May.
	At present, 162 out of 5,256 claim forms submitted to us in September are still awaiting payment. In all cases this is because either the form has been completed incorrectly, or insufficient supporting evidence has been submitted or some other query has been raised with a Member.

CHURCH COMMISSIONERS

Churches: Grants

Anne McIntosh: To ask the hon. Member for Banbury, representing the Church Commissioners what recent representations the Church Commissioners have made to the Government on heritage grants for churches; and if he will make a statement.

Tony Baldry: By way of a statement it is with great pleasure that I can confirm to the hon. Member that the DCMS has announced as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review, that the Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme will survive beyond March 2011, albeit in the reduced form which was announced as an interim measure on 7 October. This is very good news for all those volunteers who look after our churches. This was, in part, the result of representations made to Department for Culture, Media and Sport and Treasury by the Bishop of London, the chair of the Church Buildings Council, and the Church of England Parliamentary Unit and others over the last few months.
	From 4 January 2010, listed places of worship will not be able to recover VAT on professional fees for works and repair works to organs, bells, clocks, and pews, but they will still be able to claim for repairs to their buildings, up to a capped total of just over £12 million in 2011-12, rising to just over £13 million in 2014-15. However, from 4 January, the scheme will match up to the full VAT paid out on those items which remain eligible including the increase to 20%.
	We also note with great disappointment following the Comprehensive Spending Review, that English Heritage's grant from Government will be cut by 32%, considerably more than the DCMS's overall cut of 25%. We have offered to work closely with English Heritage staff to try and ensure that the invaluable support that our churches have received from English Heritage both in the form of technical expertise and grant-aid will be maintained at its current high standard and level.
	The National Lottery good causes review is welcomed warmly which we hope means that heritage, arts and sport will again each get the share of total proceeds originally set out when the Lottery was created in 1994-20% -amounting to an extra £50 million each every year. The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has given great support to places of worship. Between April 1994 and March 2010, the HLF has awarded £390m to over 3,800 projects supporting over 3,200 individual places of worship. Altogether, HLF has awarded £519 million to 4,300 faith-related projects. We look forward to working with the Heritage Lottery Fund to look at ways that some of this extra money can be used to help those who look after our churches to maintain them and to open them up for the use of the wider community.
	The Big Lottery Fund is launching a new Community Buildings Programme in later autumn 2010. This is building on the very successful Communities Buildings Programme run by the Big Lottery in 2008. The Cathedral and Church Buildings Division of the Church of England has been part of a stakeholders group made up of organisations that have responsibility for community buildings who have been consulted over the last few months on the aims and objectives of the programme as well as the criteria and application process. We have ensured that faith buildings that meet the criteria will be eligible under the programme.
	The Cathedral and Church Buildings Division is also currently responding to a further DCMS consultation on the change to the direction of the Big Lottery. We welcome the proposal that the Big Lottery Fund should be directed to focus its funding on projects that benefit people and local communities in the voluntary and community sector, exactly the sort of projects that our churches are very experienced at running.

COMMUNITIES AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Affordable Housing: North West

David Nuttall: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many affordable homes were built in  (a) Bury North constituency and  (b) the North West in (i) 2007, (ii) 2008 and (iii) 2009.

Andrew Stunell: The available information which is for Bury local authority and the north-west Government region is provided in the following table.
	The Department's 'Affordable Housing in England' Statistical Release, containing information for 2009-10 will be published on 28 October.
	Not all affordable housing is provided through new-build completions as supply can also come from the acquisition and refurbishment of private sector homes. For example, in the most recent period available, 2008-09, a total of 4,140 affordable homes were provided in the north-west Government region, of which 50 were in Bury.
	
		
			  New-build affordable housing completions 
			   2006-07  2007-08  2008-09 
			 Bury 20 30 30 
			 North West 2,230 3,220 3,120 
			  Note: Data are rounded to nearest 10 homes.  Source: Homes and Communities Agency and local authorities

Aldermaston AWE: Fires

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what reports he has received on the support provided to the Ministry of Defence Fire Service by local fire services during the fire at Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment in August 2010.

Bob Neill: Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service has confirmed that information on the support provided by local authority fire and rescue services at this incident will be transmitted to the Department using the standard Incident Recording System.

Anti-Semitism

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what recent representations he has received from  (a) hon. Members,  (b) Members of the House of Lords,  (c) representative organisations and  (d) members of the public on the incidence of anti-Semitism; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Stunell: The Department for Communities and Local Government regularly receives representations from hon. Members, representative organisations and members of the public of incidences of anti-Semitism and through the cross-Government working group regularly meets representatives of the CST, the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the Jewish Leadership Council. Recently I visited the Community Security Trust offices to discuss how the CST monitors incidents of anti-Semitism.

Council Housing: Rents

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what definition of market rent his Department uses in respect of the proposal to raise the rents of new council tenants to 80 per cent. of market rent.

Grant Shapps: We will publish more detail on the implementation of new 'affordable rent' tenure shortly.

Departmental Disciplinary Proceedings

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many officials in his Department have been  (a) subject to disciplinary action,  (b) removed from post,  (c) transferred to another position and  (d) dismissed for matters relating to their (i) disciplinary record and (ii) performance in each year since 1997.

Bob Neill: The following table shows the figures for the number of staff in DCLG who have been subject to disciplinary action for each year since the establishment of DCLG in May 2006.
	
		
			   Number of staff subject to disciplinary action 
			 2006-07 0 
			 2007-08 <5 
			 2008-09 5 
			 2009-10 16 
			 2010-11 8 
			  Note: Data from 5 May 2006 to 21 October 2010 (financial years). 
		
	
	DCLG does not hold a central record of the number of staff who have been removed from post.
	DCLG does not hold a central record of the number of staff who have been transferred to another position for any reason.
	The number of staff who have been dismissed for matters relating to their disciplinary record since May 2006 is less than five.
	No DCLG staff have been dismissed for matters relating to their performance.

Departmental Per Capita Costs

David Mowat: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government 
	(1)  what estimate he made of his Department's capital spending per head in  (a) London and  (b) the North West in each of the last five years;
	(2)  how much and what proportion of his Department's capital spending was allocated to  (a) London and  (b) the North West in each of the last five financial years.

Bob Neill: The Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses published in July this year by HM Treasury at:
	http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/pesa_2010_chapter9.pdf
	show central Government expenditure on services by country and Government office region for the last five financial year.
	The following tables set out the data requested for London and the north-west.
	
		
			  Capital spending by the Department per head 
			  £ per head 
			  Government office region  2005-06 (outturn)  2006-07 (outturn)  2007-08 (outturn)  2008-09 (outturn)  2009-10 (plans) 
			 London 100 132 138 174 256 
			 North West 53 46 54 66 93 
		
	
	
		
			  Capital spending by the Department 
			  £ million 
			  Government office region  2005-06 (outturn)  2006-07 (outturn)  2007-08 (outturn)  2008-09 (outturn)  2009-10 (plans) 
			 London 744.91 989.04 1042.35 1326.45 1962.34 
			 North West 362.69 313.04 370.57 456.97 643.48 
		
	
	The outturn figures for 2009-10 will be updated at the next publication in 2011.

Empty Property: East of England

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many  (a) privately-owned and  (b) social sector homes in (i) St Albans and (ii) the East of England were vacant in each of the last 12 quarters for which figures are available; and how many of those homes had been vacant for more than six months.

Bob Neill: The following tables show the total number and proportion of dwellings that were vacant (i) for any length of time and (ii) for more than six months in St Albans city and district council area and the East of England statistical region in each of the last three years. Separate figures are included for local authority-owned and registered social landlord (RSL) dwellings. Comparable information on the number of private sector vacant dwellings is not held centrally.
	Figures for RSLs include 'general needs' self-contained stock and exclude bed spaces, 'supported housing' and 'housing for older people', for which vacancy estimates are not available below the England level. 'General needs' self-contained stock accounts for approximately 80% of the RSL sector in England.
	
		
			  2007 
			All tenures  Local authority( 1)  Registered social landlord( 2, 3) 
			Number  Percentage  Number  Percentage  Number  Percentage 
			 St Albans All vacants 1,446 2.6 37 0.7 20 1.4 
			  Vacant for >6 months 407 0.7 5 0.1 8 0.5 
			 
			 East of England All vacants 69,107 2.8 2,492 1.3 1,836 1.2 
			  Vacant for >6 months 24,704 1.0 698 0.4 1,010 0.6 
		
	
	
		
			  2008 
			All tenures  Local authority( 1)  Registered social landlord( 2, 3) 
			Number  Percentage  Number  Percentage  Number  Percentage 
			 St Albans All vacants 1,348 2.4 91 1.7 15 1.0 
			  Vacant for >6 months 451 0.8 44 0.8 7 0.5 
			 
			 East of England All vacants 72,773 3.0 2,040 1.3 1,888 1.0 
			  Vacant for >6 months 26,255 1.1 689 0.4 1,224 0.7 
		
	
	
		
			  2009 
			All tenures  Local authority( 1)  Registered social landlord( 2, 3) 
			Number  Percentage  Number  Percentage  Number  Percentage 
			 St Albans All vacants 1,317 2.3 120 2.3 45 2.8 
			  Vacant for >6 months 373 0.7 71 1.4 35 2.2 
			 
			 East of England All vacants 72,891 2.9 2,595 1.6 2,137 1.2 
			  Vacant for 6 >months 25,921 1.0 685 0.4 1,342 0.7 
			 (1) These figures relate to stock owned by a local authority regardless of whether it is located within that local authority's boundaries.  (2) 'General needs' self-contained RSL stock only,  (3 )RSL vacancies of more than six months are based on a proxy measure-"RSL vacancies not available for rent".   Sources:  All tenures-CTB1 council tax form (completed by local authorities); local authority tenure-Business Planning Statistical Appendix (completed by local authorities); RSL tenure-Regulatory and Statistical Return (completed by RSLs).

Fire Services: Foreign Nationals

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what advice his Department issues to fire control centres on assistance to those whose first language is not English who are reporting a fire.

Bob Neill: There is a legal requirement for all Fire and Rescue Authorities to make the necessary arrangements to ensure their services are delivered equitably, taking into account the varying needs in their community.

Floods

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether he has considered the merits of introducing a statutory requirement for making emergency planning arrangements for flooding.

Richard Benyon: I have been asked to reply.
	The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in following the recommendation by Sir Michael Pitt in his Review of the 2007 floods, has worked to enhance the national capability for flood emergency response in conjunction with the main first responders to such events, including the Fire and Rescue Services.
	While the Pitt Review is not categorical about the issue of statutory duty, the idea has not been ruled out. On its completion, the Flood Rescue National Enhancement Project will provide us with the means of assessing what shortfalls exist in our national capability, and also what statutory underpinning is needed, if any.

Housing Benefit: Landlords

Paul Uppal: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether his Department provides support for landlords dealing with tenants in receipt of rent allowance who fail to pay their rent.

Andrew Stunell: Payment of housing benefit can be made directly to landlords where there are rent arrears and landlords should approach their local authority in these circumstances. The issue of housing benefit being paid directly to tenants is being looked at as part of the Department for Work and Pensions review of the first two years' operation of the local housing allowance. The review is due to report by the end of the year. Landlords have powers to seek possession through the courts on the grounds of non-payment of rent.

Housing: St Albans

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government how many and what proportion of homes in St Albans were  (a) owner-occupied,  (b) privately rented and  (c) in the social rented sector in the latest period for which figures are available.

Andrew Stunell: The number of dwellings in St Albans city and district council area in 2009 is shown in the following table, split by tenure. Figures for the privately rented and owner-occupied tenures are not held centrally.
	
		
			  St Albans  Local authority  Registered social landlord( 1)  Other public sector  Private sector  Total 
			 Number of units 5,222 1,979 164 49,283 56,648 
			 Percentage of total 9 3 - 87 100 
			  Sources: Local authority and other public sector reports as at 1 April 2009 by local authorities through the Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix; includes non-permanent dwellings. Registered Social Landlord figures as at 31 March 2009 collected in the Regulatory and Statistical Return. Total stock estimates from 2001: census dwelling count as a baseline and subsequent changes to the dwelling stock from the Housing Flows Reconciliation form. Private stock is calculated by the residual. (1)Includes 'general needs' stock, 'supported housing' and 'housing for older people', both self-contained and bedspaces.

Housing: Sustainable Development

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government pursuant to the answer of 14 October 2010,  Official Report, column 371W, on housing: sustainable development, what timetable he has set for the review of the future role of the Code for Sustainable Homes.

Andrew Stunell: The Government's plans to review the future role of the code are currently being considered, along with a wider rationalisation of housing standards following a consultation which focused on streamlining and simplifying the code, resolving problems which have arisen during its use, and upgrading it to align with revisions to part L of the Building Regulations. A further announcement about the way forward will be made soon.

Human Rights

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he made of the cost to his Department and its non-departmental public bodies of compliance with  (a) domestic,  (b) European and  (c) other international human rights requirements in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Stunell: The Department for Communities and Local Government does not collate information on the costs of compliance with human rights requirements. The Department takes account of the domestic and international human rights framework in developing all its policies and practices, as it does other relevant legal obligations; an accurate estimate of the total cost of compliance with human rights obligations could not be made without incurring disproportionate cost.

Local Government: Publicity

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will discuss with the Secretary of State for Health the merits of broadening the scope of his consultation on the Local Authority Publicity Code to include NHS bodies.

Bob Neill: The Local Government Act 1986 provides that the Code of Recommended Practice on Local Authority Publicity is a statutory code applicable to local authorities.
	We are currently consulting on a proposed new code containing provisions to stop unfair competition by local authority publications and lobbying at the taxpayer's expense. It will be for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health to decide if similar measures are needed for NHS bodies and, if so, how to achieve them.

Mayors: Referendums

John Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will reduce the threshold for calling a local referendum on elected mayors from five per cent. to two per cent.

Bob Neill: holding answer 11 October 2010
	The Government's approach to promoting more elected mayors will be outlined shortly in the Localism Bill.

Minerals: Planning Permission

Sam Gyimah: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will review the effectiveness of the targets for strategic minerals planning.

Bob Neill: My Department publishes at intervals guidelines to inform the provision of aggregate minerals in England through the planning system. My Department monitors and reviews the implementation and operation of the guidelines in consultation with key partners. When we revoked regional strategies on 6 July we made it clear that mineral planning authorities have responsibility for continuing to plan for a steady and adequate supply of aggregate minerals to support economic growth. We also indicated that we would work with the minerals industry and local government to agree how minerals planning arrangements should operate in the longer term.

Parish Councils

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government if he will bring forward proposals to encourage district councils to take into account the views of parish councils and parish meetings in making decisions at a local level.

Bob Neill: The Government are committed to a localism agenda where decisions are taken at the most appropriate local level, and expect all tiers of local government to work together constructively for the benefit of local communities. We expect our localism policies, such as our commitment to reform the planning system to give neighbourhoods far more ability to determine the shape of the places in which their inhabitants live, will provide real opportunities for an increased role for parish councils and parish meetings. Our forthcoming Localism Bill will make provision for such measures.

Social Rented Housing: North West

David Nuttall: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his most recent estimate is of the proportion of social homes in  (a) Bury North constituency and  (b) the North West which meet the criteria of the decent homes standard; and whether he plans to increase the number of decent homes in (i) Bury North constituency and (ii) the North West.

Andrew Stunell: The available data apply to the district of Bury. The proportion of social homes in Bury which meet the decent homes standard at April 2010 is 97%; and the proportion of social homes in the North West which meet the decent homes standard is 91%.
	In the spending review, the Government announced that they will spend £2.1 billion tackling non-decent social homes over the next four years. The Homes and Communities Agency will be consulting local authorities on the process for allocating capital funding shortly.

South East England Regional Assembly

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what estimate he has made of the savings accruing to the public purse from the abolition of the South East England Regional Assembly.

Bob Neill: The South East England Regional Assembly ceased to exist on 1 April 2009 and its responsibilities passed to the South East England Leaders Board.
	In June 2010 we announced the end of central Government funding for regional leaders' boards, saving £1.4 million in 2010-11 and £2.8 million in subsequent years. There will also be the potential for savings to local authorities from the abolition of the regional planning bodies.

Squatting

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what his most recent estimate is of the number of properties occupied by squatters.

Andrew Stunell: Information on the number of properties occupied by squatters is not held centrally.

TRANSPORT

Bus Services: Standards

Andrea Leadsom: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport which bus operators serving Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire have been fined by the Traffic Commissioners for poor performance in the last 12 months; and what proportion of those fines have been paid to date.

Michael Penning: holding answer 22 October 2010
	No operator of local bus services serving Northamptonshire or Oxfordshire have had a penalty under Section 155 of the Transport Act 2000 imposed upon them by the Traffic Commissioner for poor performance in the last 12 months.

Bus Services: Visual Impairment

David Nuttall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what steps his Department is taking to  (a) increase the level of accessibility of public transport for those with visual impairment and  (b) assist such people with access to information on timetables, changes of routes and discontinued services.

Norman Baker: The Department recognises the importance of helping disabled people, including those with visual impairments, to travel on public transport more confidently and independently. We are taking a number of steps to ensure that levels of accessibility continue to improve on public transport.
	The Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations 2000 (PSVAR) as amended require buses to have accessibility facilities such as low floor boarding devices, visual contrast on step edges, handholds and handrails among others. Such improvements on buses are continuing, with all vehicles used on local or scheduled services required to be fully PSVAR compliant by 2015, 2016 or 2017, depending on the type of vehicle. All rail vehicles are required to meet modern standards by 2020.
	Currently, 62% of buses and 45% of heavy rail comply with the regulations.
	A large number of stations being funded from the Access for All Programme to make accessibility improvements will continue to have direct benefit to visually impaired passengers.
	Audio-visual passenger information systems can be a key source of information to many disabled passengers. Such systems are already available on trains. On buses, however, the levels of provision vary outside London. The Department is therefore undertaking a project to consider ways of increasing the uptake of audio-visual systems. The project is due to report shortly.
	We are currently working to improve the accessibility information available to the public; the Transport Direct journey planner enables disabled people and people of reduced mobility to plan their journeys and will do so, for example, during the Olympic games. The Department also continues to work with the Association of Train Operating Companies to improve the Assisted Passenger Reservation Service for queries from disabled people on facilities and booking journey assistance.
	For those who are not confident using public transport, the Department champions increased levels of travel training by local authorities, and is aiming to produce a website of good practice by the end of 2010.
	In addition, we are working with industry to ensure that the training of transport staff continues to improve, as they are an obvious first point of contact for disabled people. To further this, we are extending the Certificate for Professional Competence (CPC) for driver training to include a disability module.

Departmental Sick Leave

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport for how many days on average his Department's staff in each pay grade were absent from work as a result of ill health in 2009-10.

Norman Baker: The central Department and its agencies recorded the following in respect of staff sickness absence during the 2009-10 financial year:
	
		
			  Staff sickness: 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010 
			  Grade  Average working days lost 
			 AA 10.1 
			 AO 8.6 
			 EO 9.7 
			 HEO 6.2 
			 SEO 4.2 
			 G7 3.9 
			 G6 3.9 
			 SCS 5.3 
			 Average working days lost per staff year 8.2 
			 Total staff employed in period 20,663 
		
	
	These figures are calculated according to guidance provided by the Cabinet Office, to whom we report on a quarterly basis and update our results on the Departmental external website:
	http://www.dft.gov.uk/about/staff/sickabsence

Driver Vehicle and Licensing Agency

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much revenue the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Agency has received from the auction of personalised registration plates in the last 12 months.

Michael Penning: The revenue received from the Sale of Marks scheme for 2009-10, as published in the Agency's Annual Report and Accounts, is £82,031,000.

Motor Vehicles: Excise Duties

Simon Hart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will review the level of road tax payable on four wheel drive vehicles used by disabled drivers or their carers for the purpose of bringing forward proposals to reduce or remove road tax liability in respect of such drivers.

David Gauke: I have been asked to reply.
	Existing rates of vehicle excise duty were set and legislated for by the previous Government. The Chancellor keeps all taxes under review and vehicle excise duty will be considered along normal Budget timelines.

Railways: Finance

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much funding his Department allocated to each train operating company in each of the last 10 years.

Theresa Villiers: holding answer 20 October 2010
	The net total funding allocated to franchised train operating companies in 2009-10 was £27.7 million. This is the last full year for which figures are available. A detailed breakdown by train operating company is in the following table.
	Government subsidy by train operating company is published annually by the Office of Rail Regulation in the National Rail Trends Yearbook. Data for the year 2005-06 to 2008-09 are available at:
	http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.1528
	Data for the year 2000-01 to 2004-05 are available at:
	http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.1542
	
		
			  2009-10 Net subsidy by train operating company 
			   £ million 
			  Active TOCS  
			 Arriva Trains Cross Country 65.5 
			 Arriva Trains Wales/Trenau Arriva Cymru Ltd(1) -23.5 
			 c2c Rail Ltd -3.3 
			 East Coast -46.1 
			 East Midlands Trains Ltd 10.0 
			 First Capital Connect -89.1 
			 First Greater Western Ltd -2.9 
			 London and South Eastern Railway Ltd (Southeastern) 122.8 
			 London Midland 102.4 
			 National Express East Anglia -97.4 
			 Northern Rail Ltd 106.4 
			 Southern (New Central) 48.0 
			 Stagecoach South Western Trains Ltd -137.7 
			 The Chiltern Railway Company Ltd 8.8 
			 Trans Pennine Express 78.4 
			 Virgin West Coast 50.0 
			   
			  Inactive TOCs at 31 March 2010  
			 Central Trains -2.2 
			 Centro 0.4 
			 CrossCountry Trains Ltd(2) - 
			 First ScotRail Ltd(1) - 
			 FNW 0.1 
			 Gatwick Express Ltd(3) - 
			 GNER -6.6 
			 National Express East Coast -144.5 
			 New Southern Railway Ltd - 
			 Silverlink -0.7 
			 Southern -11.5 
			 Virgin Cross Country 0.4 
			 West Coast Trains Ltd - 
			 All operators 27.7 
			 +ve = net payments -ve = net receipts (1) 2007-08 subsidy data for Arriva Trains Wales and First Scotrail have been updated to 127.4 and 252.5 respectively following updated figures from the Welsh Assembly and Transport Scotland. (2) Includes Virgin and Arriva. (3) 2008-09 data for Gatwick Express have been omitted as New Southern Railway Ltd began operating the service in June 2008.

Roads: Accidents

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many  (a) deaths and  (b) serious injuries have occurred on roads in the London borough of Bexley in each of the last five years.

Michael Penning: The information requested is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Reported fatalities and serious injuries in road accidents in the London borough of Bexley, 2005-09 
			  Number 
			  Casualty severity  2005  2006  2007  2008  2009 
			 Killed 6 6 6 0 5 
			 Seriously injured 81 97 99 73 77

Roads: Repairs and Maintenance

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what mechanisms are in place to ensure effective co-ordination between the Highways Agency and local authorities on their respective programmes of road repairs and maintenance.

Michael Penning: The New Roads and Street Works Act (NRSWA) 1991 and the Traffic Management Act (TMA) 2004 together oblige local highway authorities (LHA) to ensure repair and maintenance works are co-ordinated and planned to ensure the expeditious movement of traffic. The Highways Agency has been given an equivalent remit by the Secretary of State to manage better its existing network and to reduce the impact of congestion and congestion related delays.
	Quarterly co-ordination meetings are held between representatives from LHA, the Agency and statutory undertakers (major utility companies) to discuss future programmes of work. This enables conflicts to be highlighted and whenever possible the duration, sequencing or timing to be adjusted to minimise the impact.

Speed Limits: Cameras

David Nuttall: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many fixed speed cameras there are in Bury North constituency; how much income was generated from fines levied as a result of evidence from those cameras; and to what projects and programmes that income was allocated.

Michael Penning: The Department holds only information about speed cameras operating under the National Safety Camera Programme, which started in 2001 and ended on 31 March 2007. Separate information about cameras operating in Bury North is not held. The number of camera sites operating at the end of the National Safety Camera Programme in Greater Manchester (which includes the Bury North area) was 108. During the lifetime of the programme these cameras generated £12,960,120-a portion of this was hypothecated to cover operating and administration costs, the surplus was passed to the Treasury Consolidated Fund. The number of cameras currently in place and income generated is a matter for the Greater Manchester road safety partnership.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Asbestos

Steven Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will bring forward proposals to transpose into UK law the classification of Chrysotile under EU Directive 97/69/EC as not requiring treatment as a carcinogen.

Chris Grayling: The relevant provisions originally in Directive 97/69/EC (and subsequently transferred to the direct-acting EU Regulation on Classification Labelling and Packaging EC 1272/2008 (CLP)) applied to man-made mineral fibres such as mineral wools and not to chrysotile asbestos. The classification of asbestos, including chrysotile asbestos is included in CLP. Such EU regulations apply directly in all member states and do not require transposition into domestic law. Directive 97/69/EC no longer has legal effect.
	There is, at present, international scientific consensus on the classification of asbestos as carcinogenic, which informs Government policy. We will keep this under review and until the consensus changes, the Secretary of State has no plans to amend the regulations.

Departmental Asbestos

Steven Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will bring forward proposals to amend existing regulations governing the safe use of asbestos cement in line with the evidence cited in Health and Safety Commission Paper HSC/06/55.

Chris Grayling: The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2006 implement the European Codified Directive 2009/148/EC on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to asbestos at work. Asbestos cement products are subject to that directive. All asbestos types found in asbestos cement are classified by the European Chemicals Agency as category 1 human carcinogens. There is, at present, international scientific consensus on the classification of asbestos which informs Government policy. We will keep this under review and until the consensus changes, the Secretary of State has no plans to amend the regulations.
	The current regulatory approach is consistent with the evidence set out in the Health and Safety Commission paper.

Departmental Disciplinary Proceedings

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many officials in his Department have been  (a) subject to disciplinary action,  (b) removed from post,  (c) transferred to another position and  (d) dismissed for matters relating to their (i) disciplinary record and (ii) performance in each year since 1997.

Chris Grayling: The Department for Work and Pensions records action that has been taken because of misconduct or unsatisfactory performance. The figures show the number of staff disciplined, downgraded, and dismissed.
	Transferring staff compulsorily from their post is a sanction that is only available in misconduct cases.
	The information is provided in the following tables:
	
		
			  Discipline action-misconduct 
			   Number of employees: 
			   Disciplined  Downgraded  Compulsory transferred as a sanction  Dismissed 
			 1 April 2010 to 30 June 2010 541 1 2 91 
			 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010 1,484 6 4 355 
			 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009 1,093 2 4 219 
			 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008 867 0 3 161 
			 Total 3,985 9 13 826 
		
	
	
		
			  Discipline action-unsatisfactory performance 
			   Number of employees: 
			   Disciplined  Downgraded  Dismissed 
			 1 April 2010 to 30 June 2010 50 0 15 
			 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010 137 5 27 
			 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009 75 1 15 
			 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008 101 1 15 
			 Total 363 7 72

Employment and Support Allowance: Blaenau Gwent

Nick Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people in Blaenau Gwent constituency receive  (a) employment and support allowance and  (b) incapacity benefit.

Chris Grayling: The information is as follows:
	
		
			  Employment support allowance (ESA) and incapacity benefit/severe disablement allowance (IB/SDA) claimants in Blaenau Gwent parliamentary constituency at February 2010 
			   Claimants 
			 ESA 980 
			 IB/SDA 5,380 
			  Notes: 1. Incapacity benefit was replaced by employment support allowance (ESA) from October 2008. It is not possible to receive IBSDA and ESA at the same time. 2. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. Some additional disclosure has been applied. 3. Constituencies used are for the Westminster Parliament of May 2010. 4. IB/SDA 'claimants' include people in receipt of benefit and also those who fail the contributions conditions but receive a national insurance credit, i.e. 'credits only cases'.  Source: DWP Information Directorate Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100% data

Incapacity Benefit: Brighton

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many people resident in Brighton, Kemptown constituency are in receipt of incapacity benefit; and what the equivalent figure was in each of the last 10 years.

Chris Grayling: The information is as follows:
	
		
			  Incapacity benefit and severe disablement allowance claimants in the Brighton Kemptown parliamentary constituency, in each of the last 10 years 
			  Date (February each year)  Brighton, Kemptown 
			 2000 4,450 
			 2001 4,520 
			 2002 4,550 
			 2003 4,690 
			 2004 4,710 
			 2005 4,670 
			 2006 4,720 
			 2007 4,800 
			 2008 4,850 
			 2009 4,660 
			 2010 4,350 
			  Notes: 1. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10. 2. Incapacity benefit was replaced by employment support allowance (ESA) from October 2008. 3. IB/SDA 'claimants' include people in receipt of benefit and also those who fail the contributions conditions but receive a national insurance credit, i.e. 'credits only cases'. 4. Constituencies used for February 2010 are for the Westminster Parliament of May 2010. Prior to this, the constituencies used are for May 2005. 5. Figures do not include ESA claimants. 6. Data are published at http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/index.php?page=tabtool  Source: DWP Information Directorate Work and Pensions Longitudinal Study 100% data

Members: Correspondence

Phil Woolas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he plans to reply to the letter of 14 June 2010 from the hon. Member for Oldham East and Saddleworth to the Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, transferred to his Department on 23 June 2010, regarding Mr Peter Brown.

Chris Grayling: A reply was sent to the hon. Member on 7 July 2010.

Occupational Pensions: Public Consultation

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what questions will be included in his Department's proposed consultation on provisions for occupational pension schemes switching from uprating by the retail price index to the consumer price index; and what timetable he has set for that consultation.

Steve Webb: A consultation paper setting out the Government's position will be published shortly.
	It would be inappropriate to disclose the contents of the paper in advance of publication.

Older Workers

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent research his Department has  (a) commissioned and  (b) evaluated on employers' attitudes to employing older workers.

Chris Grayling: There are five separate research reports commissioned and published by DWP in the last five years, as part of their Research Report Series, which evaluate employers' attitudes towards employing older workers. These can be found on the DWP website:
	http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rrs-index.asp
	"Survey of employers' policies, practices and preferences relating to age", 2006 (DWP Research Report Series 325) H Metcalf with P Meadows.
	"Employer responses to an ageing workforce: a qualitative study", 2006 (DWP Research Report Series 255) S McNair, M Flynn and N Dutton.
	"Review of the Default Retirement Age: Summary of the stakeholder evidence", 2010 (DWP Research report Series 675) W Sykes, N Coleman and C Groom
	"Second survey of employers' policies, practices and preferences relating to age", 2010 (DWP Research Report Series 682) H Metcalf and P Meadows.
	"Default Retirement Age: Employer qualitative research", 2010 (DWP Research Report Series 672) A Thomas and J Pascall-Calitz.

Remploy

Ian Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he expects his review of the role of Remploy Ltd to be concluded.

Maria Miller: holding answer 25 October 2010
	The review of Remploy Ltd was in connection with its status as a non-departmental public body. In the light of the spending review settlement I can confirm that the budget for Remploy Ltd remains unchanged. Remploy continues to be part of the Government's programme of support to help severely disabled people into work.
	The status of Remploy as an NDPB also remains unchanged. I do, however, want to look at how we ensure continued improvements in the service provided by Remploy to disabled people. I will continue to work closely with Remploy and other key stakeholders in order to achieve this.

Retirement: Age

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of the likely effect on the  (a) number of people in the workforce and  (b) level of expenditure on unemployment and welfare benefits of the implementation of the proposed increase in the state pension age;
	(2)  what assessment he has made of the effect on people in each social and income group of the implementation of the proposed increase in the state pension age.

Steve Webb: The Government's full response to the review of the state pension age, which will include an impact assessment and an equality impact assessment, will be published shortly. Copies will be placed in the Library of the House.

Retirement: Age

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the merits of taking steps to  (a) help people to stay in work longer and  (b) assist those aged between 50 and 59 years to adjust to the implementation of the proposed increase in the state pension age.

Steve Webb: People are living longer and healthier lives. Helping them to stay in work longer offers benefits to the economy, businesses and individuals themselves. Extending working life by one effective year could increase GDP by up to 1% (worth £13 billion). A single man who works a year beyond the current state pension age could increase his income in retirement by between 3 and 10%. Our Age Positive initiative is therefore working with business lead organisations to provide employers with guidance on the benefits of employing older workers and offering flexible approaches to work and phased retirement. Many people over 65 still want to work and can provide a valuable contribution by doing so.
	Additionally, we have consulted jointly with the Department for Business Innovation and Skills on the phasing out of the Default Retirement Age (DRA), which prevents some people from working for longer. The DRA consultation ended 21 October, with results due to be published late autumn. The Government's full response to the review of state pension age will be published shortly.

Sickness Benefits: Migraine

John Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he has made an estimate of the number of people unable to work due to severe migraines and in receipt of sickness benefit who were declared fit to work after having their cases reviewed  (a) in Manchester and  (b) nationally in each of the last 10 years.

Chris Grayling: Figures on the result of the functional assessment are available for people who made a claim for employment and support allowance (ESA) which was introduced in October 2008. Equivalent historical figures for incapacity benefit claimants are not available.
	Nationally, between October 2008 and November 2009 1,000 claims were made for ESA where the condition recorded at the start of the claim was migraine (ICD10 code G43). The result of the initial assessment for these people was as follows:
	Support Group: 20
	Work Related Activity Group (WRAG): 140
	Fit For Work: 490
	Left ESA before completing assessment: 330
	Assessment in progress: 30.

Social Security Benefits

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what steps he plans to take to reduce the incidence of welfare dependency.

Chris Grayling: The Government are committed to fighting poverty; supporting the most vulnerable; and helping people break the cycle of benefit dependency that has blighted some communities.
	We are developing a new back to work model that gives Jobcentre Plus managers and advisers the maximum flexibility to work with customers to give them the best available support. We are also simplifying the whole system by replacing an array of existing employment schemes, pilots and projects with one new Work Programme that is more capable of dealing with complex and overlapping barriers to work.
	The Work Programme will be an integrated package of support providing personalised help. It will support a wide range of customers-from Jobseeker's Allowance recipients who have been out of work for some time, to customers who may previously have been receiving incapacity benefits for many years. The Government aim to introduce the Work Programme by summer 2011.
	In addition we have announced plans for a universal credit which will merge out-of-work benefits with in-work tax credits and housing benefit into a single system. The universal credit will improve incentives to work, especially for low earners, by a combination of earnings disregards and a single withdrawal rate when earnings exceed the disregard. This will make it easy for people to see that it is always worth going to work. We expect significant numbers of people to move into work as a result. Further details will be set out in a White Paper to be published in the next few weeks.

Social Security Benefits: Widowed People

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions whether he plans to change entitlement for widowed parents allowance consequent on the proposed changes to child benefit; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Webb: We intend that entitlement to widowed parent's allowance is unaffected by changes to child benefit.

Television: Licensing

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent discussions he has had with the BBC on future funding of free television licences for those over the age of 75 years; and if he will make a statement.

Steve Webb: The Government and the BBC discussed a range of options in the context of the new funding settlement for the BBC.

Welfare State: Reform

Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the effects of the proposed reforms to the benefits system on the disadvantaged and vulnerable in Northern Ireland; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Grayling: These are matters which are largely devolved to Northern Ireland Ministers. Section 87 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 provides for the securing of a single system of social security for Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Executive Ministers discuss these matters with ministerial colleagues and me as part of the regular exchanges that Whitehall Ministers have with their Northern Ireland counterparts. The proposed reforms will be an important part of these discussions.

Work Capability Assessment

Sheila Gilmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what changes have been made to the work capability assessment since his appointment.

Chris Grayling: No changes have been made to the work capability assessment since my appointment. The Department carried out a review of the WCA which reported in March 2010, and the Government have agreed to take forward the recommendations of that review. These changes will be introduced in spring 2011. We have also commissioned an independent review of the WCA, which is being carried out by Professor Harrington. We look forward to receiving his report later this year and will give careful consideration to his recommendations.

DEFENCE

Afghanistan: Peacekeeping Operations

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many missions the MQ-9 Reaper has flown in Afghanistan since May 2008; and how many of those missions involved the release of each type of weapon.

Liam Fox: The primary role of the UK Reaper Remotely Piloted Air System is intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. Since October 2007, it has flown 1,344 sorties and since May 2008 employed 36 laser guided bombs and 84 Hellfire missiles in support of UK and coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Air Forces Crosses

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many Air Forces Crosses have been awarded in each of the last three years.

Andrew Robathan: Nine Air Force Crosses have been awarded over the last three years:
	
		
			   Number 
			 2007 3 
			 2008 1 
			 2009 4 
			 2010 (1)1 
			 (1) As of 22 October 2010.

Aircraft Carriers

Ian Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  whether he expects both Queen Elizabeth-class carriers to be fitted with a catapult and arrester;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of the cost of fitting a Queen Elizabeth-class carrier with a catapult and arrester.

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  when he expects Queen Elizabeth-class carriers to be fitted with a catapult and arrester;
	(2)  which organisation he expects to fit the Queen Elizabeth-class carriers with a catapult and arrester.

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  whether he expects HMS Queen Elizabeth to be fitted with an electro-magnetic catapult system;
	(2)  what catapult and trap designs are being considered for the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers; and what aircraft are capable of using each such design.

Peter Luff: As announced on 19 October 2010, we plan to deliver the carrier strike capability from around 2020 with the carrier variant of the Joint Strike Fighter and Queen Elizabeth class carrier fitted with catapults and arrestor gear. We are investigating the optimum means of achieving this outcome, working with industry and our international partners. No decisions have been taken as to the type of system, delivery dates or procurement route, or whether both carriers will be converted.

Aircraft Carriers

Ian Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what methodology he plans to use to reach a decision on whether to decommission HMS Ocean or HMS Illustrious.

Peter Luff: We will reach our decision by determining which of HMS Illustrious or HMS Ocean delivers the landing platform helicopter capability most cost-effectively.

Atomic Weapons Establishment: Aldermaston

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he plans to review and update the ten-year site-wide 2000 Decommissioning Plan for the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston.

Peter Luff: The 10-year 2000 Decommissioning Plan was reviewed and refreshed by two quinquennial reviews of the Atomic Weapons Establishment's nuclear liabilities at both the Aldermaston and Burghfield sites. The next quinquennial review is currently planned to be undertaken in 2012. I understand that the review of the 2007 quinquennial review will be plublished on the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate website soon once it is completed.

Ballistic Missile Defence

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the merits of NATO's proposal for an anti-ballistic missile shield.

Gerald Howarth: The Government assess NATO ballistic missile defence to be an important capability which could contribute to the defence of the UK and our NATO allies against potential future ballistic missile threats. As stated in the strategic defence and security review, published 19 October 2010, we intend to support proposals to expand NATO's ballistic missile defence role.

Capita

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many contracts his Department has with Capita; and how much it has paid to Capita under such contracts in 2010-11 to date.

Peter Luff: There are 21 contracts listed in the Ministry of Defence's Financial Management Shared Service Centre (FMSSC) contracts database, with the total payments of £8,170,414 for financial year 2010-11 to date, as shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Contractor name  Pay in FY 2010-11 (£) 
			 The Capita Group plc 0 
			 Capita Business Services Ltd. 23,260 
			 Symonds Group Ltd. 10,703 
			 Capita Resourcing Ltd. 83,564 
			 Capita Health Solutions Ltd. 0 
			 Capita Symonds Ltd. 14,300 
			 Capita Symonds Ltd. 0 
			 Capita Resourcing Ltd. 6,320,949 
			 Capita Symonds Ltd. 107,287 
			 Capita Symonds Ltd. 0 
			 Symonds Group Ltd. 7,619 
			 Symonds Group Ltd. 0 
			 Capita Symonds Ltd. 283,580 
			 Symonds Group Ltd. 0 
			 Symonds Group Ltd. 0 
			 Capita Group Companies (six miscellaneous contracts) 1,319,151 
			 Total 8,170,414 
			  Note: Where a 0 appears in the pay column no payments have yet been made against these specific contracts.

Departmental Travel

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how much his Department spent on travel by officials  (a) in the UK,  (b) overseas and  (c) between the UK and abroad in each of the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Andrew Robathan: This information is not held in the form requested as we do not routinely distinguish between UK and overseas travel expenditure and, in some expenditure areas, between travel by officials and travel by their military colleagues.
	We do, however, hold information on rail and air tickets booked centrally for officials and on travel expenses reimbursed to them for accommodation, subsistence, taxi, bus and underground fares, parking charges, road tolls, rail and air fares not booked centrally and use of their own vehicle for duty journeys. Such expenditure has been as follows in each of the past 12 months:
	
		
			   Expenditure (£ million) 
			  2009  
			 September 5.3 
			 October 5.6 
			 November 5.1 
			 December 3.2 
			   
			  2010  
			 January 3.0 
			 February 3.8 
			 March 5.2 
			 April 3.3 
			 May 3.6 
			 June 4.1 
			 July 4.0 
			 August 3.1 
		
	
	We publish the business expenses incurred by our most senior officials quarterly, at the following website:
	http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/AboutDefence/CorporatePublications/FinancialReports/Expenses/SeniorStaffBusinessExpenses.htm

Etal Group

Jim McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence on how many occasions his Department has  (a) terminated a contract with and  (b) considered a bid for a contract from Etal Ltd. of Dundee since his appointment; and to whom his Department has awarded contracts since his appointment.

Peter Luff: The Ministry of Defence's (MOD) Financial Management Shared Service Centre (FMSSC) contracts database does not show any contracts as having been placed with Etal Ltd. during the last three financial years. Information on potential bidders for MOD contracts is not held centrally and could be produced only at disproportionate cost.
	The MOD has placed some 2,200 new contracts since the Secretary of State's appointment on 12 May 2010.

European Fighter Aircraft

Ben Wallace: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library a copy of his Department's 2004 report on marinisation of Typhoon aircraft.

Peter Luff: The Ministry of Defence has no record of a 2004 report on marinisation of Typhoon aircraft. We have commissioned industrial and technical advice during the review of the future carrier-borne aircraft requirement, which also considered the adaptation of existing aircraft, including Typhoon. The Joint Strike Fighter was selected to fulfil this role. We have periodically reviewed with industry our present and future Typhoon capability requirements from a technological, industrial and commercial perspective and will continue to do so throughout the life of the aircraft.

Future Large Aircraft

Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the in-service date is for the A400M aircraft.

Peter Luff: The current forecast in-service date for the A400M aircraft is March 2015, as published in the Major Projects Report 2010.

Germany: Military Bases

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who owns the land on which British bases are located in Germany.

Andrew Robathan: The majority of the land on which British bases are located in Germany is owned by the German Federal Government. The remainder is leased by the German Federal Government on behalf of the British Forces.

Gibraltar: Military Bases

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who owns the land on which British bases are located in Gibraltar.

Andrew Robathan: The land on which British bases are located in Gibraltar is owned by the Crown.

Members: Correspondence

Gordon Banks: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the Veterans Minister plans to respond to the letters from the hon. Member for Ochil and South Perthshire of 3 July and 23 September 2010, on a constituency case.

Andrew Robathan: The Under-Secretary of State for Defence, my hon. Friend the Member for South Leicestershire (Mr Robathan) is currently overseas on business and I am responding on his behalf. He replied to the letter of 3 July 2010 advising that he needs to familiarise himself with the matter and had asked officials for the full background. He said he hoped to be able to offer a considered response by the end of August. We apologise for not yet being in a position to respond on this complex case, but the hon. Member will receive a reply shortly.

Nuclear Fuels: Storage

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence by what date rim-sealed containers for storage of special nuclear materials at the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston will be replaced by new, long-term storage containers.

Peter Luff: There are no current plans to replace "rim-sealed" containers used for storage of special nuclear materials at the Atomic Weapons Establishment.

Nuclear Weapons

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish a full historical inventory of the UK's nuclear arsenal.

Liam Fox: We have no plans to publish an historical inventory of the UK's nuclear arsenal.

RAF Chivenor: Rescue Services

Geoffrey Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will ensure that the Helicopter Search and Rescue Service based at RAF Chivenor retains 24 hours a day cover.

Peter Luff: On 17 June 2010 the Chief Secretary to the Treasury announced a review of the approval of the search and rescue helicopters project in the context of the wider pressures on public spending. Until this review is complete it would be premature to comment on basing under the future service.

Service Personnel and Veterans Agency

Tom Watson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many staff the Service Personnel and Veterans Agency employed on the latest date for which figures are available; and what the monetary value of the salaries of  (a) all staff and  (b) its senior management was in the latest year for which figures are available.

Liam Fox: holding answer 21 October 2010
	 The Service Personnel and Veterans Agency employed 1,003 full-time equivalent staff during the year 2009-10. Salaries and wages of all staff for the same period was £27.112 million. Senior management salaries are detailed in the following table:
	
		
			  Salary including performance pay 2009-10 
			   £000 
			 Chief Executive 105-110 
			 Deputy Chief Executive/Head Strategy and Programmes 95-100 
			 Head Veterans Services 65-70 
			 Head Change 95-100 
			 Head Military Services 60-65 
			 Head Transition Services 30-35 
			 Head Corporate Services 80-85 
			 Head Military Services(1) 30-35 
			 Non Executive Director 10-15 
			 Non Executive Director 10-15 
			 (1)There are two Heads of Military Services noted, as one completed only a partial year. 
		
	
	This information has been taken from the SPVA annual report and accounts 2009-10, which once published will be available in the Library of the House.

Strategic Defence and Security Review

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what consultation other than meetings has been held with representatives of the  (a) aerospace industry,  (b) maritime industry and  (c) other defence industries as part of his Department's Strategic Defence and Security Review;
	(2)  what meetings he has  (a) had and  (b) planned with representatives of the (i) aerospace, (ii) maritime, (iii) cyber technology and (iv) other defence sectors as part of his Department's Strategic Defence and Security Review.

Liam Fox: Ministers and officials had many discussions with industry representatives while the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) was in progress, including a full meeting of the National Defence Industries Council which I chaired, and various sub-group meetings, as well as meeting with individual companies.
	The Ministry of Defence Ministers will continue to meet with industry representatives in the coming months, to discuss the follow-up to the SDSR.

Trident

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what expenditure his Department has planned for the UK Trident warhead life extension programme; and how much it has spent on this programme to date.

Liam Fox: Stockpile management and certification activity, including obsolescence management, is contained within the annual cost of operating the Atomic Weapons Establishment, which is around £1 billion per annum in the current pricing period, to the end of March 2013. Costs are not disaggregated into sub-strands of activity. It is therefore not possible to provide disaggregated costs as they are not held in the format requested.

Type 26 Frigates

Ian Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what his timetable is for the introduction of the Type 26 Frigate.

Peter Luff: On current plans, the first Type 26 or Global Combat Ship is expected to enter service early in the next decade and this was confirmed in the strategic defence and security review published on 19 October 2010.

Warships

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he has made of the effect on the capacity of the Royal Navy to meet current commitments of the proposed change to the size of the surface fleet.

Peter Luff: As explained in the White Paper, 'Securing Britain in an Age of Uncertainty: The Strategic Defence and Security Review (Cmd 7948)', the Royal Navy will continue to provide continuous at sea nuclear deterrence, the maritime defence of the UK and our overseas territories, as well as an enduring presence in priority regions such as the Gulf. The surface fleet will remain able to deliver a full spectrum of maritime capabilities from high intensity warfare to projecting UK influence.

Warships

Ian Davidson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects Royal Navy ships in extended readiness to be brought back into service.

Peter Luff: Most Royal Navy ships enter states of low or very low readiness at various times during their operational lives. This is usually to allow for periods of maintenance, or when there is no operational priority to hold them at higher readiness. Ships are returned to higher states of readiness as and when they are required for operational purposes.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Agriculture: Subsidies

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many Single Payment Scheme leased land agreements the Rural Payments Agency failed to reinstate to the owner at the lease agreement end date owing to computer technical difficulties in  (a) 2008-09 and  (b) 2009-10.

James Paice: There were no occasions when technical problems prevented reinstatement of leased land in 2008-09 and 2009-10.

Agriculture: Subsidies

Graham Stuart: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  what percentage of Single Payment Scheme payment entitlements were not paid owing to technical problems in  (a) 2008-09 and  (b) 2009-10;
	(2)  in respect of how many Single Payment Scheme entitlements the Rural Payments Agency has not yet released payments owing to computer technical difficulties in  (a) 2008-09 and  (b) 2009-10.

James Paice: The position as at 15 October is as follows:
	 SPS 2008 (2008-09 from the question) year
	50 farmers, representing less than 0.05%, have not been paid. None of these are due to technical difficulties.
	A further 92 farmers, representing approximately 0.1%, have received a manual payment of up to 95% of their estimated claim value and will receive a top-up payment once their claims have been finalised. The majority of these are due to technical difficulties.
	 SPS 2009 (2009-10 from the question) year
	127 farmers, representing approximately 0.1%, have not been paid. None of these are due to technical difficulties.
	A further 956 farmers, representing approximately 1%, have received a manual payment of up to 95% of their estimated claim value and will receive a top-up payment once their claims have been finalised. The majority of these are due to technical difficulties.

Agriculture: Subsidies

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average farm business income of  (a) all farm types,  (b) sheep farms and  (c) dairy farms was in each of the last five years.

James Paice: Data on average farm business income for all farm types and dairy farms for the five years to 2008-09 are shown in the table. Figures are not produced separately for specialist sheep farms, except for those in the severely disadvantaged areas. This information is also shown in the table against that for all grazing livestock farm types in the less favoured areas for comparison.
	Data on average farm business income for 2009-10 will be published on 28 October 2010 and will be available at:
	http://www.defra.gov.uk/evidence/statistics/foodfarm/farmmanage/fbs/published-data/fbsincomes/
	
		
			  Average farm business income per farm for LFA grazing livestock farms types, England, current prices 
			  £/farm 
			  Farm type  2004-05  2005-06  2006-07  2007-08  2008-09 
			 All farm types 28,300 28,600 34,400 48,200 50,900 
			 Dairy farms 33,100 33,600 30,800 55,100 69,400 
			 Specialist sheep farms (SDA) 15,200 15,500 12,900 14,900 20,300 
			 All LFA grazing livestock farm types 16,200 15,800 10,500 10,400 17,100

Animal Welfare

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the effect on the welfare of farmed animals of the closure of the Farm Animal Welfare Council.

James Paice: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 19 October 2010,  Official Report, column 630W. Changing the status of the Farm Animal Welfare Council to an Expert Committee will ensure the work of this important body can continue and we will seek to ensure this change has no adverse impact on the welfare of farmed animals.

Animals: Diseases

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what notifiable animal disease outbreaks have occurred in each of the last five years; and what estimate she has made of the cost to the economy of each such outbreak.

James Paice: A list of notifiable animal disease outbreaks since 2004 is available on the DEFRA website:
	http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/farmanimal/diseases/atoz/ndi/index.htm
	Information on the cost of all notifiable disease outbreaks is not available for each of the last five years.
	DEFRA's current estimate of the economic cost to the UK livestock sector as a result of the 2007 Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak is over £100 million. The estimated total cost to the Government of the outbreaks in 2007 is £47 million for FMD, £1.7 million on bluetongue and £5 million on Avian Influenza (two outbreaks). During 2010 there have been three outbreaks of equine infectious anaemia, and the cost of these outbreaks has been £0.2 million.
	The other values could be provided only at disproportionate cost to the Department.

Bovine Tuberculosis

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her policy is on implementation of each recommendation of the Krebs report on the links between bovine tuberculosis and badgers.

James Paice: holding answer 21 October 2010
	The 1997 Krebs report included a large number of recommendations, the vast majority of which have been implemented. The recommendations fall into four categories, and actions taken in each of these categories are summarised as follows:
	 Research to better understand the causes of herd breakdown
	DEFRA has put in place a wide-ranging portfolio of research to examine this issue. Since 1997, approximately 40 research projects have been funded in this area, the reports of which are available on the DEFRA website.
	 Work to evaluate the effectiveness of the current available strategies to reduce herd breakdowns
	The main recommendation was implemented through the establishment of the Randomised Badger Culling Trial in 1998. This study compared the effectiveness of no culling, proactive and reactive culling policies. DEFRA has also funded over 20 research projects to evaluate available strategies including, as recommended in the Krebs report, examining the effectiveness of proactive husbandry measures.
	 Work to develop improved strategies to reduce herd breakdown
	This has involved the development of vaccines to protect badgers and cattle against tuberculosis (TB) and a diagnostic test to distinguish infected from vaccinated cattle. Total investment in vaccine development from 1998 has now reached more than £30 million and includes over 20 research projects. An injectable vaccine for badgers was licensed in March 2010. An oral badger vaccine is at the research stage and may be available from 2015. We aim to have a licensed BCG cattle vaccine and a validated differential diagnostic test by the end of 2012. However, due to the need to change EU legislation before cattle can be vaccinated for TB, we anticipate that a cattle vaccine could not be used in the field before 2015 at the earliest.
	 Other recommendations
	These covered a range of issues and have been implemented through increasing the use of modelling, making more data available to researchers, whenever possible using open competition to select research contractors, working collaboratively with other funders, increasing the spend on TB research from £1.7 million in 1998-99 to £7.9 million in 2010-11 and liaising with the Health Protection Agency in monitoring bovine TB incidence in humans.

Bovine Tuberculosis

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent discussions she has had with her counterpart in the Welsh Assembly Government on the operation of the badger cull and vaccination programme in Wales.

James Paice: I have regular contact with the Minister for Rural Affairs in the Welsh Assembly Government on a range of issues, including bovine TB and badger control. In addition, officials in England and Wales have regular discussions about this issue.

Capita

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many contracts her Department has with Capita; and how much it has paid to Capita under such contracts in 2010-11 to date.

Richard Benyon: The information requested is set out in the following table.
	
		
			   Number of contracts  Paid 2010-11( 1)  ( £) 
			 DEFRA 3 293,582.40 
			 Animal Health 1 92,531.25 
			 Food and Environment Research Agency 2 130,069.00 
			 Veterinary Medicines Directorate 0 - 
			 Veterinary Laboratories Agency 0 - 
			 Centre for Environment Fisheries and Aquaculture Science 0 - 
			 Rural Payments Agency 1 251.54 
			 (1) April to September

Departmental Contracts

Andrew Bingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of quality management statements in assisting with contract decisions by her Department; and what assessment she has made of the effects on the prospects for small businesses of winning contracts of such statements.

Richard Benyon: Our Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) and Invitation to Tender (ITT) ask how the supplier's quality management processes will help deliver the required goods/service. The question on Quality Management is one of a series of questions that help us to evaluate and select the most suitable provider. If the business has the required expertise/experience to deliver the required services they should be able to comfortably answer these questions irrespective of the size of the organisation.

Departmental Pay

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much was paid to officials in her Department and its non-departmental public bodies in bonuses and other payments in addition to salary in each year since 1997; how many officials received such payments; and what the monetary value was of the largest 20 payments made in each such year.

Richard Benyon: Information on other payments paid in addition to salary are not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost for the Department and its non-departmental public bodies (core DEFRA and those organisations covered by DEFRA terms and conditions-Animal Health and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate)
	The requested information on non-consolidated variable performance pay for the financial years from 2005-6 to 2009-10 has been placed in the House Library, where available. Information on these payments prior to this date is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Public Expenditure

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how much she plans to allocate in capital funding to each agency sponsored by her Department for each of the next four financial years; and what capital funding she made to each such agency for 2010-11.

Richard Benyon: holding answer 25 October 2010
	Given constrained capital budgets across Government in this spending review period, DEFRA is in the process of considering its investment requirements carefully in order to agree an allocation across the portfolio. Allocation of the capital budget will be prioritised to ensure that value for money is achieved while meeting DEFRA's strategic priorities. More information on allocations should be available in January 2011.
	Capital allocations to DEFRA's Executive Agencies in 2010-11 are:
	
		
			  Agency  Capital allocation (£ million) 
			 Animal Health 12.9 
			 Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) 3.4 
			 Food and Environment Research Agency (Fera) 2.5 
			 Rural Payments Agency (RPA) 10.7 
			 Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) 6.8 
			 Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) 0.3

Departmental Public Expenditure

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what funding she plans to allocate to the Environment Agency for each of the next four financial years; and what funding she allocated to that agency for 2010-11.

Richard Benyon: holding answer 25 October 2010
	Following the Spending Review, DEFRA is considering budget allocations for the next four financial years across the DEFRA network, including the Environment Agency. More information on allocations should be available in January 2011.
	The Environment Agency's grant in aid budget from DEFRA for 2010-11 is currently £644.5 million for flood and coastal erosion risk management and £146.3 million for environmental protection.

Departmental Sick Leave

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many days her Department has lost to staff sickness in each year since 1997; and what estimate she made of the cost to her Department of sickness absence in each such year.

Richard Benyon: The following table shows the total working days lost through sickness in DEFRA and its agencies in each year since 2002. The end dates of the 12 month periods vary between years due to the way that data was collected at the time. No estimate has been made of the cost to the Department of sickness absence in each such year. However, the pay equivalent of days lost through sickness absence in 2009 was £9.6 million.
	
		
			  12 months ending  Total working days lost 
			 31 December 2002 120,800 
			 31 December 2003 121,200 
			 31 December 2004 107,000 
			 31 December 2005 (1)102,000 
			 31 March 2007 92,600 
			 31 March 2008 89,100 
			 31 March 2009 80,100 
			 31 March 2010 78,403 
			 (1 )Excludes Central Science Laboratory for which data are not  available.

Environmental Stewardship Schemes: Finance

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  how many higher level stewardship agreements she expects to be funded by Natural England in  (a) 2010-11,  (b) 2011-12,  (c) 2012-13,  (d) 2013-14 and  (e) 2014-15;
	(2)  what estimate Natural England made of the number of higher level stewardship agreements to be funded in the financial year 2010-11 at the commencement of the financial year; and what its most recent estimate is of that number.

James Paice: Natural England's estimate of the number of Higher Level Stewardship (HLS) agreements to be funded at the start of the current financial year was 7,663. These estimates are currently being reviewed in the light of the outcome of the spending review. Spending on HLS will continue to grow throughout the remainder of the lifetime of the Rural Development Programme for England, and will be 83% higher in 2013-14 than in the current financial year.
	Detailed budgets for the spending review period will be finalised shortly, and DEFRA will be working with Natural England to ensure that the available budget is targeted effectively at the delivery of key environmental outcomes. It is, therefore, not possible at this stage to provide precise estimates of the number of HLS agreements which are expected to be funded in each year.

Equine Infectious Anaemia

Thomas Docherty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with her counterparts in the devolved Administrations on the recent outbreak of equine infectious anaemia.

James Paice: Regular discussions were held with the devolved Administrations throughout the September outbreak. As set out in DEFRA's Contingency Plan for Exotic Diseases of Animals, the devolved Administrations are an integral part of disease response and are included in all the major discussions on disease control measures throughout any outbreak.

Equine Infectious Anaemia

Thomas Docherty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with representatives of the equine industry on the recent outbreak of equine infectious anaemia.

James Paice: Regular discussions were held with representatives of the equine industry throughout the September outbreak. As set out in DEFRA's Contingency Plan for Exotic Diseases of Animals, shortly after the disease outbreak had been confirmed by the chief veterinary officer, a meeting of DEFRA's Core Group of equine stakeholders was convened to discuss the control measures to be applied. The Core Group continued to meet regularly throughout the outbreak.

Equine Infectious Anaemia

Thomas Docherty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the compensation scheme for animals that have been compulsorily slaughtered following a positive identification of equine infectious anaemia.

James Paice: For equine infectious anaemia (EIA), the statutory compensation payable is determined by the Equine Infectious Anaemia (Compensation) Order 2006.
	The compensation paid for any infected animal that is culled, reflects the fact that an infected animal, which does not die as a result of the disease itself, remains a lifelong carrier of the infection. It therefore poses a risk to all other horses, ponies and donkeys in the immediate vicinity and as such, would have negligible market value. The nominal sum of £1 compensation reflects this.

Equine Infectious Anaemia: Disease Control

Thomas Docherty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs if she will discuss with the EU Commission the merits of an enhanced disease testing regime for intra-Community horse movements following the recent outbreak of equine infectious anaemia.

James Paice: Existing EU rules on intra-Community trade in all livestock, including horses, places responsibility on the consigning member state to control disease on its territory and to certify that any consignments for movement to another member state are safe. The rules do not permit extensive or blanket checks carried out by the importing member state. Such measures would be a burdensome restriction on trade, disproportionate to the risk and would fall foul of EU trade rules. The UK is a major beneficiary of the open market and these trade rules facilitate our thriving trade in the movement of livestock and their products. As a further assurance to the importing member states, the rules do allow them to carry out checks for compliance with certification on a proportion of consignments. As such, we currently have in place enhanced post import checks for certain consignments of horses.
	Additionally, DEFRA is in regular contact with other member states and the Commission and discussions are taking place on the movements of horses and the risk of transmitting exotic disease. Any further protective measures introduced would be expected to be proportionate to the risk and to continue within the boundaries of EU rules.

Fisheries

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many UK-registered fishing vessels were reported as lost at sea in each of the last five years.

Richard Benyon: The number of UK registered fishing boats, reported as accidentally lost at sea in each of the last five years is:
	
		
			  Vessels 
			   Number 
			 2005 34 
			 2006 19 
			 2007 21 
			 2008 21 
			 2009 14

Higher Level Stewardship Scheme

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she plans to publish the projected budgets for the Natural England higher level stewardship scheme for the next four financial years.

James Paice: We are working with Natural England to finalise the detailed budgets for the remaining years of the current Rural Development Programme for England. Spending on higher level stewardship (HLS) will be 83% higher in 2013-14 than in the current financial year. Changes in the financial plan for the remainder of the programme will also need to be approved by the European Commission. We shall publish financial plans for the remainder of the programme period following those discussions.

Higher Level Stewardship Scheme

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when she expects to announce her Department's policy on the renewal of higher level stewardship schemes.

James Paice: Spending on higher level stewardship (HLS) will continue to grow throughout the remainder of the lifetime of the Rural Development Programme for England, and will be 83% higher in 2013-14 than in the current financial year. HLS schemes remain open for applications for agreements which will start from April 2011 or later. Natural England has temporarily suspended approvals of HLS agreements with a start date prior to April 2011 while the impacts of the spending review outcome are being assessed. We hope to confirm the situation shortly.

Horses: Disease Control

Thomas Docherty: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport on the bio-security of equestrian events at the London 2012 Olympics.

James Paice: DEFRA has been working closely with the organisers of the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics and the Government Olympic Executive. Officials met recently to discuss the handling of various exotic equine diseases should an incursion occur in the run up to, or during, the Games.

Hunting Act 2004: Convictions

Simon Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many convictions there have been for offences under the Hunting Act 2004 in each year from 2005 to 2009.

James Paice: The number of defendants found guilty at all courts for offences under the Hunting Act 2004(1) in England and Wales from 2005-09(2, 3, 4) are as follows:
	
		
			   Found guilty 
			 2005 2 
			 2006 5 
			 2007 48 
			 2008 33 
			 2009 57 
			 (1 )Came into force on 18 February 2005. (2) The court proceedings statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences, the principal offence is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes, and their inevitable limitations, are taken into account when those data are used. (4) Excludes data for Cardiff magistrates court for April, July and August 2008.  Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services within the Ministry of Justice

Hydrofluorocarbons

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what recent steps her Department has taken to reduce the use of hydrofluorocarbons in  (a) refrigeration and  (b) heat pumps; and if she will make a statement.

Richard Benyon: A comprehensive EU regulatory framework to contain, prevent and thereby reduce, emissions of hydrofluorocarbons from equipment such as refrigeration and heat pumps is already in place, having been fully implemented since 2009 in Great Britain by the Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases Regulations 2009 (SI 2009/261).

Slaughterhouses: Devon

Mel Stride: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many abattoirs there were in Central Devon constituency in  (a) 2000,  (b) 2005,  (c) 2007 and  (d) on the latest date for which figures are available.

James Paice: The number of approved slaughterhouses operating in the Central Devon constituency was:
	
		
			   Number 
			 2000 7 
			 2005 8 
			 2007 7 
			 2010 6 
			  Notes: 1. All figures are for a financial (April-March) year. 2. The figure for 2010 is correct at 21 October 2010.

Task Force on Farming Regulation

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs which  (a) regulations,  (b) directions and  (c) circulars affecting farming and food are being examined by the Task Force on Farming Regulation; and how much her Department spent on compliance and monitoring work in respect of each such measure in the latest year for which figures are available.

James Paice: holding answer 25 October 2010
	The Task Force on Farm Regulation has been asked to identify ways to reduce the regulatory burden on farmers and food processors. Its remit covers all regulations that apply to farming, including horticulture; food issues where they apply on farm; food processing where farmer and producer interests overlap; and processing of farmed produce. It will focus on those areas of most concern to business and has asked for ideas and suggestions identifying unnecessary regulations, gold-plating and measures that are over-complex in implementation or enforcement to be submitted by 31 October.

Water: Shortages

Simon Kirby: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what regulatory obligations to nearby residents there are upon water companies during major renewal or construction works.

Richard Benyon: Paragraph 1 of schedule 12 to the Water Industry Act 1991 provides that water companies should do as little damage as possible while undertaking streetworks, and should pay compensation for any loss or damage caused as a result of the company exercising its street works powers. Schedule 12 goes on to say that any dispute as to whether compensation should be paid, or as to the amount of compensation, should be referred to the arbitration of a single arbitrator appointed by agreement between the parties to the dispute. Ofwat can appoint an arbitrator if the parties cannot agree on one. Ofwat does not have a formal role in deciding whether or how much compensation should be paid under schedule 12.
	Section 60 of the Control of Pollution Act 1974 empowers local authorities to serve notices upon works of construction and demolition (the erection, construction, alteration, repair or maintenance of buildings, structures or roads and demolition or dredging work). Notices can specify what plant or machinery may or may not be used, the hours during which works may be carried out, and the levels of noise that are acceptable from the works.
	Section 61 enables a person intending to carry out works to apply for consent from the local authority. An application should contain the particulars of the works and the method by which they are to be carried out, and the steps proposed to be taken to minimise noise resulting from the works.
	If a person on whom a section 60 notice has been served contravenes any requirement of the notice without reasonable excuse, there is a penalty upon summary conviction of a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale, together with a fine not exceeding £50 for each day on which the offence continues.

Wheat: Prices

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the average farm gate price was of  (a) corn,  (b) wheat and  (c) soya beans in each month of the last five years.

James Paice: Because grain maize and soya beans are only grown in small amounts in the UK we do not have detailed UK farm gate price information for these crops.
	The average price of British wheat, calculated from returns by merchants in England and Wales under the Corn Returns Act 1882 (as amended) in each month of the last five years is given in the following table:
	
		
			  Average price of wheat per tonne each month 
			  £ 
			   Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  June  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec 
			 2010 102.65 95.85 94.30 98.84 103.48 101.55 117.36 145.48 152.36 - - - 
			 2009 110.90 115.13 110.98 108.78 117.15 114.05 105.16 95.65 94.58 102.82 104.75 104.88 
			 2008 164.74 175.35 179.68 169.08 151.02 144.78 138.50 123.93 114.70 100.00 95.40 97.33 
			 2007 91.40 90.40 92.16 93.33 96.66 104.25 116.23 141.90 172.48 147.43 146.60 158.8 
			 2006 68.98 69.98 70.28 71.88 74.53 76.74 75.80 77.70 84.40 93.15 92.68 90.50 
			  Source: Home-Grown Cereals Authority.

JUSTICE

Chelmsford Prison

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice for how long the tumble drier for use by prisoners at Chelmsford Prison has not been working; and when he expects it to be repaired or replaced.

Crispin Blunt: HMP Chelmsford has a tumble drier on E wing which has not been working for about two months. It requires a replacement seal and arrangements are being made for its repair. In the meantime prisoners can use an alternative tumble drier available on the wing or have their clothing laundered in the prison's main industrial laundry facility.

Courts

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps his Department is taking to increase the level of enforcement of family court orders.

Jonathan Djanogly: Enforcement of an individual court order is a matter for the independent judiciary. Her Majesty's Courts Service does not collect general statistics on enforcement of orders made in the family courts.
	Enforcement arises most often in cases concerning children and financial arrangements, where a range of enforcement mechanisms already exist.
	In ancillary relief cases, the courts can register the judgment and enforce the amount payable by means of remedies available for debt, for example by attachment of earnings, placing a charge upon property or requiring payment from a person holding money owed to the person in breach of the order.
	In cases concerning the payment of child maintenance, various provisions are available to enforce the debt and an application can be made to court for a person who refuses to pay to be sent to prison. The Child Maintenance and Other Payments Act 2008 strengthened the range of enforcement and debt management powers available to the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission.
	In relation to child contact, the courts were given wider powers in December 2008 to enforce orders by imposing unpaid work, or awarding financial compensation, where a person breaches a contact order without reasonable excuse.
	The family courts also have an inherent power to treat breach of an order as a contempt of court, with the sanction of a fine or imprisonment, although this is rarely used in family proceedings.
	The family justice review is currently considering whether there are better alternatives to court in appropriate cases, such as mediation. Mediation can be quicker, cheaper and can help to maintain ongoing parenting relationships, avoiding the need for enforcement action later on.

Family Courts

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether he plans to review his Department's policy on the  (a) granting of parental access to children and  (b) interviewing of young children in the family court process.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Secretary of State for Education, the Welsh Assembly Government Minister for Health and Social Services and the Secretary of State for Justice have commissioned a review of the family justice system in England and Wales to examine the effectiveness of the family justice system, the outcomes it delivers and to make recommendations for reform.
	The review is examining how to promote contact rights for non-resident parents and grandparents where this is in the best the interests of the child. The review will also examine how best to ensure the voice of the child is heard.
	We will consider the recommendations of the review when it is published in autumn 2011.

Juries

Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what legislative proposals he plans to bring forward to protect trial by jury.

Crispin Blunt: We are looking carefully at repealing the provision in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 that allows certain fraud cases to be tried without a jury.

Magistrates

Anna Soubry: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will undertake a review of the requirement for magistrates to retire from the bench at the age of 70 years.

Jonathan Djanogly: There are currently no plans to undertake a review. The retirement age for magistrates is 70 and is set in statute under section 13 of the Courts Act 2003. This is in line with the retirement age for the vast majority of other judicial offices.
	The contribution of magistrates of all ages is invaluable. However, it is important that magistrates reflect the diverse communities they serve. While there has been positive progress on ethnic and gender diversity, 82% of magistrates are 50 or over and the average age is 57. As well as taking magistrates out of step with other judicial offices, increasing the retirement age would reduce the number of available vacancies and thus reduce opportunities for younger people to become magistrates.

Magistrates Courts: Closures

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will assess the likely effect on levels of engagement between magistrates and local communities of implementation of his proposals to close magistrates courts.

Jonathan Djanogly: Engagement between magistrates and local communities is not dependent on the number or location of court buildings. Her Majesty's Courts Service and the magistracy have been at the forefront of visible and continual engagement with communities, working with other justice agencies to understand and discuss the justice issues that affect those communities and what can be done to resolve them, as well as improving public understanding of the work of the courts and the wider justice system.
	The aim of the community engagement work of the magistrates courts is to improve public confidence in the justice system by strengthening links between courts, the communities they serve and the wider justice system, while preserving judicial independence.

Magistrates Courts: Closures

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will estimate the change in the number of serving magistrates arising from implementation of his proposals to close magistrates courts.

Jonathan Djanogly: The number of serving magistrates should not be directly affected by court closures as workload is not being reduced but transferred to nearby courts, where magistrates will continue to hear cases from their local justice area or, as a result of any local justice area proposals, across a new, merged local justice area. However, I recognise the need for numbers of magistrates to be commensurate with workload and we expect advisory committees to take this balance into account as they think about possible future appointments.

Magistrates: Utilisation Rates

Graham Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will place in the Library a copy of the utilisation rates of each magistrates court in England in the latest period for which information is available.

Jonathan Djanogly: The information requested on utilisation rates of each magistrates court in England and Wales for the period April to June 2010 is within the following table:
	
		
			  Utilisation rates of each magistrates court in England and Wales for periods April  to  June 2010 
			  Courthouse  Courtroom utilisation  (percentage) 
			 Aberdare 44.3 
			 Abertillery 47.4 
			 Aberystwyth 55.5 
			 Aldershot 69.5 
			 Alnwick 56.6 
			 Alton 63.8 
			 Ammanford 61.6 
			 Andover 21.4 
			 Ashford 62.5 
			 Aylesbury 88.4 
			 Banbury 77.2 
			 Barking (East Street) 69.1 
			 Barnsley 61.7 
			 Barnstaple 72.4 
			 Barrow in Furness 64.9 
			 Barry 54.1 
			 Basildon 67.6 
			 Basingstoke 82.8 
			 Bath 70.6 
			 Bedford 67.0 
			 Berwick upon Tweed 57.7 
			 Beverley 44.8 
			 Bexley 78.2 
			 Bicester 59.9 
			 Bingley 66.3 
			 Birkenhead 60.6 
			 Birmingham (Corporation St) 62.4 
			 Bishop Auckland 33.2 
			 Blackburn 71.8 
			 Blackpool 88.6 
			 Blackwood Family Court 17.5 
			 Blaydon 39.8 
			 Bodmin 73.8 
			 Bolton 62.8 
			 Bootle 81.7 
			 Boston 42.9 
			 Bournemouth 72.5 
			 Bracknell 59.0 
			 Bradford 52.7 
			 Brecon 29.7 
			 Brent 51.8 
			 Brentford 19.9 
			 Bridgend 55.8 
			 Bridgwater 51.2 
			 Bridlington 43.5 
			 Brighton 75.7 
			 Bristol 86.0 
			 Bromley (London Road) 71.7 
			 Burnley 77.8 
			 Burton upon Trent 50.5 
			 Bury 61.4 
			 Bury St Edmunds 62.8 
			 Buxton 59.0 
			 Caernarfon 73.0 
			 Caerphilly 82.6 
			 Calderdale 57.8 
			 Camberwell Green 93.3 
			 Camborne (Bassett Rd) 26.7 
			 Cambridge 39.3 
			 Cannock 69.0 
			 Canterbury 62.6 
			 Cardiff 49.4 
			 Cardigan 24.5 
			 Carlisle 61.2 
			 Carmarthen 30.0 
			 Chelmsford 59.7 
			 Cheltenham (St George's Road) 49.5 
			 Chester 56.9 
			 Chesterfield (Tapton Lane) 65.9 
			 Chichester 62.0 
			 Chippenham 52.7 
			 Chorley 78.2 
			 City of London 90.3 
			 City of Westminster 117.2 
			 Coalville 28.9 
			 Colchester (Town Hall) 58.7 
			 Consett 70.8 
			 Corby 51.4 
			 Coventry 69.1 
			 Crawley 90.9 
			 Crewe 58.6 
			 Cromer 22.0 
			 Croydon 63.8 
			 Cwmbran 70.9 
			 Darlington 54.3 
			 Dartford 80.0 
			 Daventry 45.6 
			 Denbigh 14.0 
			 Derby (St Mary's Gate) 67.7 
			 Dewsbury 53.6 
			 Didcot 50.5 
			 Dolgellau 39.0 
			 Doncaster 64.0 
			 Dover 49.0 
			 Dudley 65.8 
			 Durham 53.5 
			 Ealing 78.8 
			 Eastbourne 65.3 
			 Ely 21.6 
			 Enfield 75.2 
			 Epping 30.1 
			 Exeter 70.8 
			 Fareham 77.2 
			 Feltham 79.5 
			 Fenland 32.6 
			 Fleetwood 64.1 
			 Flint 27.4 
			 Folkestone 77.1 
			 Gateshead 82.2 
			 Gloucester (Barbican Way) 35.2 
			 Goole 33.0 
			 Gosforth 33.1 
			 Grantham 33.0 
			 Grays 66.0 
			 Great Yarmouth 40.5 
			 Greenwich 88.5 
			 Grimsby 71.0 
			 Guildford 58.4 
			 Halesowen 8.7 
			 Harlow 77.1 
			 Harrogate 49.1 
			 Harrow 95.0 
			 Hartlepool 71.0 
			 Harwich 36.5 
			 Hastings 80.1 
			 Haverfordwest 53.4 
			 Havering 76.7 
			 Haywards Heath 52.4 
			 Hemel Hempstead 53.6 
			 Hendon 81.9 
			 Hereford 67.4 
			 Hertford 62.8 
			 Highbury Corner 86.3 
			 Highgate 57.3 
			 Hinckley 48.4 
			 Holyhead 34.4 
			 Honiton 15.2 
			 Horsham 33.6 
			 Huddersfield 46.4 
			 Hull and Holderness 61.8 
			 Huntingdon 42.9 
			 Hyndburn 71.9 
			 ILCFPC 95.1 
			 Ilkeston 8.6 
			 Ipswich 57.0 
			 Kendal 31.6 
			 Kettering 72.5 
			 Kidderminster 55.4 
			 King's Lynn 69.6 
			 Kingston upon Thames 60.8 
			 Knowsley 55.6 
			 Lancaster 55.0 
			 Langbaurgh East 52.0 
			 Leeds 64.6 
			 Leicester 79.4 
			 Lewes 38.6 
			 Leyland 64.1 
			 Lincoln 53.7 
			 Liskeard 16.6 
			 Liverpool (Dale St) 48.1 
			 Llandrindod Wells (Brecon) 63.2 
			 Llandrindod Wells (Welshpool) 10.2 
			 Llandudno 71.8 
			 Llanelli 54.7 
			 Llangefni 12.9 
			 Loughborough 55.6 
			 Lowestoft 44.4 
			 Ludlow 59.5 
			 Luton 68.7 
			 Lyndhurst 56.6 
			 Macclesfield (Hibel Rd) 72.4 
			 Maidenhead 60.2 
			 Maidstone 86.7 
			 Manchester City 74.1 
			 Mansfield (Rosemary St) 52.3 
			 Market Drayton 19.0 
			 Market Harborough 29.0 
			 Medway (Chatham) 64.6 
			 Melton Mowbray 32.9 
			 Merthyr Tydfil 49.5 
			 Milton Keynes 65.1 
			 Mold 67.7 
			 Neath and Port Talbot 43.5 
			 Newark 59.8 
			 Newbury 66.9 
			 Newcastle under Lyme 73.6 
			 Newcastle Upon Tyne 84.4 
			 Newport 63.4 
			 Newport (Civic Centre) 87.4 
			 Newport (Clarence House) 57.8 
			 Newton Abbot 51.7 
			 Newton Aycliffe 73.4 
			 North Liverpool Community Justice Centre 74.5 
			 North London Family Proceedings Court 79.8 
			 North Tyneside 71.9 
			 Northallerton 80.3 
			 Northampton 81.7 
			 Northwich 75.3 
			 Norwich 65.1 
			 Nottingham (Carrington St) 57.7 
			 Nuneaton 84.9 
			 Oldham 62.7 
			 Ormskirk 52.1 
			 Oswestry 28.0 
			 Oxford 68.9 
			 Penrith 37.5 
			 Penzance 9.6 
			 Peterborough 44.0 
			 Peterlee 76.9 
			 Plymouth 60.2 
			 Pontefract 71.4 
			 Pontypridd 47.0 
			 Poole 55.3 
			 Portsmouth 75.0 
			 Prestatyn 58.7 
			 Preston 86.9 
			 Pwllheli 25.7 
			 Reading 91.1 
			 Redbridge 84.0 
			 Redditch 62.1 
			 Redhill 74.0 
			 Reedley 41.9 
			 Retford 26.0 
			 Richmond upon Thames 82.1 
			 Rochdale 70.5 
			 Rossendale 22.2 
			 Rotherham 58.6 
			 Rugby 58.4 
			 Runcorn 54.8 
			 Salford 44.3 
			 Salisbury (Guildhall) 60.8 
			 Scarborough 62.1 
			 Scunthorpe 81.7 
			 Selby 53.4 
			 Sevenoaks 78.9 
			 Sheffield 65.0 
			 Shrewsbury 60.7 
			 Sittingbourne 61.3 
			 Skegness 42.4 
			 Skipton 48.4 
			 Slough 101.2 
			 Solihull 67.4 
			 South East Northumberland 70.3 
			 South Tyneside Law Courts 66.4 
			 South Western 84.3 
			 Southampton (The Avenue) 60.0 
			 Southend on Sea 49.3 
			 Southport 61.8 
			 Spalding 41.9 
			 St Albans 75.2 
			 St Helens 58.7 
			 Stafford 46.3 
			 Staines 72.8 
			 Stevenage 66.9 
			 Stockport 45.2 
			 Stoke on Trent 80.2 
			 Stratford 69.7 
			 Stratford upon Avon 83.9 
			 Stroud 42.7 
			 Sudbury 22.9 
			 Sunderland and Houghton-le-Spring 64.6 
			 Sutton 40.5 
			 Sutton Coldfield 65.1 
			 Swaffham 22.7 
			 Swansea 71.3 
			 Swindon 64.4 
			 Tameside 74.6 
			 Tamworth 66.5 
			 Taunton 56.8 
			 Teesside 77.6 
			 Telford 62.6 
			 Thames 90.7 
			 Thanet (Margate) 91.3 
			 Thetford 31.1 
			 Torquay 87.4 
			 Torquay County Court 14.9 
			 Towcester 36.9 
			 Trafford 85.5 
			 Truro 60.9 
			 Tynedale 84.1 
			 Uxbridge 83.3 
			 Wakefield 61.6 
			 Walsall 82.0 
			 Waltham Forest 71.4 
			 Warley 74.2 
			 Warrington (Arpley Street) 79.2 
			 Watford 63.6 
			 Wellingborough 64.6 
			 Welshpool 43.5 
			 West Bromwich 43.9 
			 West London 95.7 
			 Weston Super Mare 64.1 
			 Weymouth 19.9 
			 Whitehaven 48.0 
			 Wigan 72.8 
			 Wimbledon 85.3 
			 Wimborne 5.0 
			 Witham 46.0 
			 Witney 30.6 
			 Woking 65.7 
			 Wolverhampton 54.4 
			 Worcester 79.1 
			 Workington 72.9 
			 Worksop 47.6 
			 Worthing 64.6 
			 Wrexham 69.6 
			 Wycombe 80.9 
			 Yate 59.2 
			 Yeovil 28.8 
			 York 67.3 
			 England and Wales 62.7 
			  Notes: 1. These data were subject to the minimum data quality checks. 2. Courtroom utilisation is the total number of hours used for judicial business in all courtrooms, divided by the total number of court hours available to be used.  Source: HMCS Performance Database (OPT)

Prison Accommodation

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what guidance his Department issues to prisons on the provision of  (a) curtains and  (b) duvets in cells.

Crispin Blunt: Prisoners may earn privileges under the local Incentives and Earned Privileges Scheme, details of which are set out in Prison Service Order (PSO) 4000 which is available in the Library of the House. Curtains and duvets are not included in the key earnable privileges listed in the PSO, but Governors have discretion to offer additional earnable privileges which reflect the regime of the prison. Some prisons may allow prisoners to have curtains and/or duvets as an earnable privilege.
	Prisons requesting curtains and duvets are given guidance on the requirements for fire safety and the management of the ligature risk.
	PSO 1250 on Prisoners' Property, also in the Library, sets out guidance on the items of their own personal property prisoners are allowed to have in possession. There is no specific guidance issued to prisons on allowing curtains and duvets in cells.

Prison Service: Taxis

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much the Prison Service spent on taxis in each of the last five years.

Crispin Blunt: Her Majesty's Prison Service is part of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). The NOMS accounting system does not record expenditure on taxis separately from other forms of travel. It would incur disproportionate cost to examine thousands of individual expense claims in order to identify expenditure on taxis.
	All travel by Ministers is undertaken in accordance with the rules set out in the ministerial code. All official travel by NOMS staff is completed in line with the published rules for official travel and subsistence. The rules are in accordance with the guidelines set out in the civil service management code.
	The NOMS policy on staff use of taxis is that staff may only claim reimbursement of fares in the following circumstances:
	(i) for journeys for which there is no other suitable method of public transport; or
	(ii) where heavy luggage has to be transported to or from the place of departure or arrival; or
	(iii) where the saving of official time is important.

Prisoners: Foreign Nationals

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  how many foreign prisoners were detained in each prison on the latest date for which figures are available; and how many such prisoners had completed their sentences;
	(2)  how many prisoners there are from each  (a) other EU member state and  (b) non-EU country;
	(3)  how many foreign prisoners are serving a sentence of longer than six months.

Crispin Blunt: The number of foreign national prisoners held in each prison establishment in England and Wales as at 30 June 2010 is shown in table 1. The Department publishes quarterly information on foreign national prisoners; the September 2010 data will be published on 28 October 2010.
	As at 5 July 2010 (the closest date to 30 June for which this information is available), 581 foreign national prisoners were being held in prison under immigration powers after completion of their sentences. Table 2 shows a breakdown of this total by prison establishment.
	As at 30 June 2010 there were 3,342 foreign national prisoners from other EU member states, and 7,793 non-EU nationals in custody. Table 3 shows a breakdown by country.
	As at 30 June 2010, 6,434 foreign national prisoners were serving a sentence of longer than six months.
	These figures have been drawn from administrative IT and other systems which, as with any large scale recording systems, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.
	
		
			  Table 1: Foreign national population by establishment at 30 June 2010 
			  Establishment  Total population  Foreign nationals 
			  Male   
			 Altcourse 1,261 92 
			 Acklington 930 20 
			 Ashfield 275 29 
			 Ashwell 214 5 
			 Aylesbury 433 78 
			 Belmarsh 833 174 
			 Buckley Hall 380 4 
			 Blundeston 522 83 
			 Bedford 487 102 
			 Blantyre House 121 0 
			 Bristol 607 55 
			 Birmingham 1,475 236 
			 Bullingdon 1,097 147 
			 Bure 520 61 
			 Brinsford 565 52 
			 Bullwood Hall 224 217 
			 Brixton 751 240 
			 Chelmsford 656 88 
			 Cardiff 794 58 
			 Cookham Wood 112 13 
			 Coldingley 505 18 
			 Castington 191 2 
			 Channings Wood 709 5 
			 Canterbury 295 279 
			 Dartmoor 585 68 
			 Dovegate 1,127 98 
			 Durham 916 58 
			 Doncaster 1,071 112 
			 Dorchester 220 16 
			 Deerbolt 478 15 
			 Dover 311 304 
			 Erlestoke 464 16 
			 Sheppey Cluster (Standford Hill) 444 32 
			 Everthorpe 664 11 
			 Exeter 530 38 
			 Sheppey Cluster (Elmley) 1,134 162 
			 Forest Bank 1,344 99 
			 Ford 539 44 
			 Frankland 821 56 
			 Feltham 664 140 
			 Full Sutton 589 55 
			 Featherstone 643 57 
			 Garth 835 57 
			 Gloucester 289 33 
			 Guys Marsh 552 66 
			 Grendon/Spring Hill 550 20 
			 Glen Parva 720 65 
			 Gartree 671 83 
			 Hollesley Bay 354 11 
			 Huntercombe 65 11 
			 Hewell 1,374 189 
			 Holme House 1,046 31 
			 Hindley 331 9 
			 Hull 1,000 72 
			 High Down 1,047 224 
			 Highpoint 939 190 
			 Haslar 116 112 
			 Haverigg 625 111 
			 Isle of Wight 1,640 220 
			 Kirkham 589 5 
			 Kennet 341 2 
			 Kirklevington Grange 271 0 
			 Lancaster 237 5 
			 Leicester 345 69 
			 Leeds 1,114 92 
			 Lancaster Farms 502 18 
			 Lowdham Grange 880 125 
			 Lindholme 1,102 289 
			 Lincoln 573 77 
			 Long Lartin 612 83 
			 Latchmere House 191 5 
			 Liverpool 1,245 113 
			 Littlehey 1,031 137 
			 Lewes 469 51 
			 Leyhill 520 26 
			 Moorland/Moorland Open 1,018 46 
			 Manchester 1,206 165 
			 Maidstone 586 236 
			 Mount 769 191 
			 Edmunds Hill 376 86 
			 Nottingham 898 69 
			 Northallerton 230 4 
			 North Sea Camp 309 7 
			 Norwich 749 84 
			 Onley 692 38 
			 Peterborough 586 107 
			 Portland 468 55 
			 Preston 753 35 
			 Parc 1,085 40 
			 Kingston (Portsmouth) 198 14 
			 Pentonville 1,178 298 
			 Rochester 723 127 
			 Reading 257 19 
			 Rye Hill 611 120 
			 Ranby 1,062 108 
			 Risley 1,085 148 
			 Stafford 730 74 
			 Stoke Heath 595 24 
			 Stocken 833 32 
			 Sheppey Cluster (Swaleside) 1,105 199 
			 Shepton Mallet 189 8 
			 Swinfen Hall 611 55 
			 Sudbury 578 19 
			 Swansea 421 15 
			 Shrewsbury 313 14 
			 Thorn Cross 288 1 
			 Usk/Prescoed 423 16 
			 Verne 579 308 
			 Wellingborough 540 78 
			 Winchester 680 65 
			 Wakefield 733 67 
			 Wealstun 613 14 
			 Woodhill 757 103 
			 Warren Hill 180 17 
			 Wayland 1,001 37 
			 Wymott 1,141 72 
			 Werrington 126 2 
			 Wolds 380 10 
			 Whitemoor 449 99 
			 Wormwood Scrubs 1,273 445 
			 Whatton 794 44 
			 Wandsworth 1,569 497 
			 Wetherby 318 9 
			 Total 80,735 10,361 
			
			  Female   
			 Askham Grange 121 1 
			 Bronzefield 479 150 
			 Drake Hall 302 41 
			 Downview 326 69 
			 East Sutton Park 82 4 
			 Eastwood Park 318 35 
			 Foston Hall 245 13 
			 Holloway 416 121 
			 Low Newton 243 8 
			 Morton Hall 284 174 
			 New Hall 375 28 
			 Peterborough 362 69 
			 Send 273 30 
			 Styal 441 31 
			 Total 4,267 774 
			
			 Male and female establishment total 85,002 11,135 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Foreign nationals held under immigration powers after completion of sentence, by establishment at 5 July 2010 
			   Number 
			 Altcourse 7 
			 Ashfield 1 
			 Ashwell 1 
			 Aylesbury 1 
			 Bedford 11 
			 Belmarsh 6 
			 Birmingham 34 
			 Blundeston 6 
			 Brinsford 3 
			 Bristol 8 
			 Brixton 15 
			 Bronzefield 5 
			 Bullingdon 4 
			 Bullwood Hall 19 
			 Bure 1 
			 Camp Hill 3 
			 Canterbury 4 
			 Cardiff 5 
			 Castington 1 
			 Chelmsford 14 
			 Coldingley 2 
			 Dartmoor 5 
			 Deerbolt 1 
			 Doncaster 8 
			 Dorchester 1 
			 Dovegate 9 
			 Downview 2 
			 Drake Hall 3 
			 Durham 11 
			 Eastwood Park 2 
			 Edmunds Hill 8 
			 Elmley 16 
			 Everthorpe 1 
			 Exeter 3 
			 Featherstone 2 
			 Feltham 4 
			 Frankland 1 
			 Garth 1 
			 Glen Parva 7 
			 Guys Marsh 9 
			 Hewell 2 
			 Hewell Grange 19 
			 Highdown 22 
			 Highpoint 4 
			 Highpoint South 8 
			 Holloway 6 
			 Holme House 6 
			 Hull 5 
			 Lancaster Farms 2 
			 Leeds 3 
			 Leicester 6 
			 Lewes 6 
			 Lincoln 4 
			 Lindholme 6 
			 Littlehey 9 
			 Liverpool 16 
			 Long Lartin 4 
			 Maidstone 8 
			 Manchester 5 
			 Moorland 1 
			 Morton Hall 7 
			 Mount 9 
			 New Hall 1 
			 Norwich 11 
			 Nottingham 12 
			 Onley 5 
			 Parc 3 
			 Pentonville 10 
			 Peterborough 10 
			 Portland 4 
			 Preston 4 
			 Ranby 5 
			 Reading 2 
			 Risley 12 
			 Rochester 10 
			 Stafford 6 
			 Stocken 2 
			 Styal 4 
			 Swansea 1 
			 Swinfen Hall 2 
			 Usk 1 
			 Verne 2 
			 Wandsworth 32 
			 Warren Hill 2 
			 Wellingborough 3 
			 Whatton 4 
			 Winchester 2 
			 Woodhill 9 
			 Wormwood Scrubs 16 
			 Wymott 3 
			 Grand total 581 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 3: Foreign national prisoner population by nationality, EU and non-EU at 30 June 2010 
			   Number 
			 EU 3,342 
			 Non-EU 7,793 
			   
			  EU  
			 Austria 15 
			 Belgium 32 
			 Bulgaria 43 
			 Cyprus 28 
			 Czech Republic 83 
			 Denmark 9 
			 Estonia 32 
			 Finland 3 
			 France 149 
			 Germany 94 
			 Greece 15 
			 Hungary 47 
			 Irish Republic 681 
			 Italy 94 
			 Latvia 150 
			 Lithuania 361 
			 Malta 3 
			 Netherlands 119 
			 Poland 642 
			 Portugal 209 
			 Romania 380 
			 Slovakia 65 
			 Slovenia 4 
			 Spain 66 
			 Sweden 18 
			   
			  Non EU  
			 Afghanistan 138 
			 Albania 154 
			 Algeria 175 
			 Angola 74 
			 Anguilla 2 
			 Argentina 7 
			 Armenia 9 
			 Aruba 1 
			 Australia 25 
			 Azerbaijan 4 
			 Bahamas 1 
			 Bangladesh 216 
			 Barbados 39 
			 Belize 1 
			 Benin 2 
			 Bermuda 2 
			 Bolivia 5 
			 Bosnia and Herzegovina 18 
			 Botswana 3 
			 Brazil 65 
			 Burundi 11 
			 Cambodia 1 
			 Cameroon 30 
			 Canada 33 
			 Central African Republic 23 
			 Chile 8 
			 China 364 
			 Colombia 75 
			 Congo 138 
			 Congo, Democratic Republic of the 1 
			 Costa Rica 5 
			 Croatia 7 
			 Cuba 4 
			 Dominica 15 
			 Ecuador 7 
			 Egypt 20 
			 Equatorial Guinea 1 
			 Ethiopia 59 
			 Fiji 6 
			 French Guiana 3 
			 Gabon 1 
			 Gambia 58 
			 Georgia 9 
			 Ghana 141 
			 Gibraltar 4 
			 Grenada 17 
			 Guatemala 3 
			 Guinea 11 
			 Guinea-Bissau 1 
			 Guyana 34 
			 Haiti 1 
			 India 329 
			 Indonesia 1 
			 Iran 197 
			 Iraq 234 
			 Israel 43 
			 Ivory Coast 31 
			 Jamaica 942 
			 Japan 1 
			 Jordan 4 
			 Kazakhstan 2 
			 Kenya 62 
			 Kiribati 1 
			 Korea, DPR (North Korea) 2 
			 Korea, Republic of 7 
			 Kuwait 9 
			 Kyrgyzstan 1 
			 Lebanon 16 
			 Liberia 26 
			 Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 24 
			 Macedonia 6 
			 Malawi 17 
			 Malaysia 39 
			 Mali 2 
			 Mauritania 5 
			 Mauritius 18 
			 Mexico 21 
			 Moldova 18 
			 Monaco 1 
			 Mongolia 5 
			 Montserrat 17 
			 Morocco 58 
			 Mozambique 4 
			 Myanmar 3 
			 Namibia 7 
			 Nepal 10 
			 Netherlands Antilles 7 
			 New Zealand 5 
			 Nicaragua 1 
			 Niger 12 
			 Nigeria 727 
			 Norway 7 
			 Oman 1 
			 Other 1 
			 Pakistan 440 
			 Panama 1 
			 Paraguay 2 
			 Peru 5 
			 Philippines 24 
			 Qatar 1 
			 Russian Federation 108 
			 Rwanda 20 
			 Samoa 1 
			 San Marino 1 
			 Saudi Arabia 12 
			 Senegal 5 
			 Serbia and Montenegro 28 
			 Seychelles 4 
			 Sierra Leone 72 
			 Singapore 6 
			 Somalia 433 
			 South Africa 137 
			 Sri Lanka 139 
			 St Kitts and Nevis 3 
			 St Lucia 30 
			 St Vincent and the Grenadines 16 
			 Sudan 41 
			 Suriname 2 
			 Swaziland 1 
			 Switzerland 5 
			 Syrian Arab Republic 11 
			 Taiwan (Nationalist Chinese) 5 
			 Tanzania 27 
			 Thailand 10 
			 Togo 7 
			 Tonga 1 
			 Trinidad and Tobago 56 
			 Tunisia 19 
			 Turkey 167 
			 Turkmenistan 1 
			 Uganda 67 
			 United Arab Emirates 1 
			 United States 90 
			 Uruguay 1 
			 Uzbekistan 9 
			 Venezuela 18 
			 Vietnam 596 
			 Yemen, Republic of 10 
			 Zambia 15 
			 Zimbabwe 189

Prisoners: Islam

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what information his Department holds on the number of prison inmates who have converted to Islam while in prison in each of the last three years.

Crispin Blunt: Information on the number of prisoners who have converted to Islam while in prison is not held centrally. The data held centrally, as recorded on the prison IT system, only include information on prisoners' current declared religion, not any previously declared religion. Therefore, it is not possible to identify how many prisoners have changed their religion while in prison.

Prisoners: Mobile Phones

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of his proposal to issue mobile telephones to prisoners to be released to bail accommodation.

Crispin Blunt: I understand the hon. Member is referring to the contract with Stonham, to provide private rented accommodation and support to those on bail and Home Detention Curfew who do not otherwise have an address to be released to. This is a fixed price contract. Stonham provide basic mobile telephones only to service users who do not have one so that contact can be maintained between an individual and their support officer. Stonham advise the phones cost them £7.49.

Prisoners: Telephones

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many prisoners have telephones installed in their cells.

Crispin Blunt: As at 22 October, 1,152 prisoners had access to telephones in their cells.
	HM Prisons Lowdham Grange and Dovegate are the only two sites which provide prisoners with in-cell telephones. At Dovegate this provision is restricted to one houseblock. Both establishments are managed by the private sector. In-cell telephones offer the same level of security to those systems which are located in communal areas. Where appropriate calls can be recorded and monitored in line with existing policies.

Prisoners: Uniforms

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what information the Prison Service holds on the number of prisoners who refused to wear  (a) boiler suits and  (b) other prison uniforms issued by the Prison Service in the latest period for which figures are available.

Crispin Blunt: Refusal by prisoners to wear boiler suits or other prison uniforms is dealt with as a local disciplinary matter. Records do not distinguish between such cases and other instances of refusal to comply with orders or rules. This could be established only by examining the actual records of each disciplinary hearing manually at disproportionate cost.

Prisons: Drugs

Helen Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues on drug addiction services in prisons.

Crispin Blunt: I have had discussions with Ministers in a number of Departments including the Department of Health, Home Office and the Cabinet Office. These have covered a range of drugs related topics, including reforming drug addiction services in prisons.

Prisons: Personnel

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice whether the Prison Service records the time taken by  (a) prison officers and  (b) other prison staff in collecting fresh clothing for inmates; and if he will make a statement.

Crispin Blunt: The National Offender Management Service does not record this information. The arrangements for issuing freshly laundered clothing to prisoners, and the extent to which staff are involved, vary between prisons according to security factors and the layout of the establishment.

Prisons: Wales

Simon Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many  (a) community sentences,  (b) fines,  (c) custodial sentences and  (d) cautions were imposed for convictions involving drug dealing for each illegal drug in each of the last three years.

Crispin Blunt: The number of persons sentenced to community sentences, fines, immediate custody, other disposals and the total persons sentenced for drug dealing offences, as recorded on the courts proceedings database, in the last three years for which data are available is given in Table 1 as follows.
	Table 2 refers to the number of offenders cautioned for drug dealing offences, in the last three years.
	Drug dealing offences include: Supply or offering to supply a controlled drug or possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply.
	
		
			  Table 1: Persons sentenced for drug dealing offences( 1)  England and Wales 2007 to 2009( 2, 3) 
			Results 
			  Drug offences  Year  Absolute discharge  Conditional discharge  Fine  Community sentence  Suspended sentence  Immediate custody  Otherwise dealt with  Total sentenced 
			  Class A  
			 Cocaine 2007 4 9 25 189 260 1,190 14 1,691 
			  2008 1 13 20 207 313 1,658 32 2,244 
			  2009 0 6 11 201 357 1,833 10 2,418 
			   
			 Heroin 2007 0 10 10 288 260 1,706 23 2,297 
			  2008 2 12 6 334 266 1,861 58 2,538 
			  2009 1 8 1 305 273 1,804 15 2,407 
			   
			 LSD 2007 0 1 2 4 2 7 0 16 
			  2008 0 0 3 1 3 8 0 15 
			  2009 0 0 0 2 0 4 0 6 
			   
			 MDMA 2007 1 11 9 121 169 349 7 667 
			  2008 2 2 3 78 116 272 4 477 
			  2009 0 5 1 46 73 169 1 295 
			   
			 Crack 2007 0 3 4 74 55 482 7 625 
			  2008 0 3 0 136 76 583 17 815 
			  2009 0 1 1 78 63 484 8 635 
			   
			 Methadone 2007 0 1 1 7 4 7 0 20 
			  2008 0 0 1 7 6 12 0 26 
			  2009 0 1 2 6 4 17 0 30 
			   
			 Methylamphetamine (Crystal Meth) 2007 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 3 
			  2008 0 0 0 2 4 1 0 7 
			  2009 0 0 0 3 2 6 0 11 
			   
			 Other Class A 2007 0 5 1 103 100 535 4 748 
			  2008 2 4 1 113 120 563 23 826 
			  2009 0 2 5 88 106 497 5 703 
			   
			  Class B  
			 Amphetamine 2007 1 9 10 66 123 148 1 358 
			  2008 1 6 8 80 109 194 3 399 
			  2009 0 1 9 71 120 188 4 393 
			   
			 Other Class B 2007 0 0 2 5 4 17 1 29 
			  2008 0 0 1 12 10 16 3 42 
			  2009 1 4 20 101 47 74 2 249 
			   
			  Class C  
			 Anabolic Steroids 2007 0 1 0 2 1 1 0 5 
			  2008 0 0 0 1 1 4 0 6 
			  2009 0 0 0 3 3 4 0 10 
			   
			 Ketamine 2007 0 0 3 4 0 0 0 7 
			  2008 0 0 1 11 1 3 1 17 
			  2009 0 1 4 27 11 4 0 47 
			   
			 GHB 2007 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 
			  2008 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 
			  2009 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 
			   
			 Other Class C 2007 0 27 31 223 332 352 13 978 
			  2008 0 21 19 266 437 421 10 1,174 
			  2009 0 13 27 204 324 331 4 903 
			   
			 Cannabis(4) 2007 3 30 61 460 340 333 37 1,264 
			  2008 1 35 69 585 401 367 18 1,476 
			  2009 1 25 94 664 499 529 23 1,835 
			   
			 Unspecified 2007 1 2 5 18 20 253 2 301 
			  2008 0 1 3 14 20 268 2 308 
			  2009 0 0 0 6 28 210 0 244 
			 (1) Includes offences covering "Possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply" and "Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug". (1) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (4) In 2004 cannabis was reclassified from a Class B to a Class C drug. In 2009 cannabis was reclassified to a Class B drug. Cannabis data are shown separately in this table and are not also included in the relevant year's Class B or Class C data. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Offenders cautioned( 1,2)  for drug dealing( 3)  offences, England and Wales, 2007 to 2009( 4) 
			   Year 
			  Drug type  2007  2008  2009 
			  Class A
			 Cocaine 146 104 62 
			 Heroin 45 35 29 
			 LSD 6 4 4 
			 MDMA 88 46 31 
			 Crack 23 7 9 
			 Methadone 10 2 10 
			 Methylamphetamine (Crystal Meth) 1 3 - 
			 Other Class A 54 37 41 
			 Total - Class A 373 238 186 
			 
			  Class B
			 Amphetamine 50 29 20 
			 Other Class B 8 6 40 
			 Total - Class B 58 35 60 
			 
			  Class C
			 Anabolic steroids 1 3 7 
			 Ketamine 15 6 10 
			 Other 78 74 38 
			 Total - Class C 94 83 55 
			 
			 Class Unspecified 29 8 8 
			 
			 Cannabis(5) 553 403 329 
			 
			 Total-All Drug dealing offences 1,107 767 638 
			 (1) The cautions statistics relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been cautioned for two or more offences at the same time the principal offence is the more serious offence. (2) From 1 June 2000 the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 came into force nationally and removed the use of cautions for persons under 18 and replaced them with reprimands and warnings. These are included in the totals. (3) Includes offences covering "Possession of a controlled drug with intent to supply" and "Supplying or offering to supply a controlled drug". (4) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (5) In 2004 cannabis was reclassified from a Class B to a Class C drug. In 2009 cannabis was reclassified to a Class B drug. Cannabis data are shown separately in this table and are not also included in the relevant year's Class B or Class C data.  Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services-Ministry of Justice

Prosecutions: Northamptonshire

Philip Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how many  (a) men and  (b) women whose last known address was in (i) Kettering borough, (ii) Northamptonshire and (iii) England and Wales were (A) prosecuted, (B) convicted and (C) given a custodial sentence for offences related to non-payment of their television licence fee.

Crispin Blunt: The number of males and females proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts in the Kettering Local Justice Area, the Northamptonshire police force area and England and Wales in 2009 (latest available) for offences under section 363 of the Communications Act 2003 can be viewed in the table.
	Figures are for the court in which a defendant was proceeded against as data held on the Court Proceedings Database held by the Ministry of Justice do not identify a defendant's address.
	A person cannot be sentenced to a custodial sentence if convicted of an offence under section 363 of the Communications Act 2003. The maximum penalty for not having a valid TV Licence is a £1,000 fine. The court may also order the convicted person to pay for TV Licensing's costs in the proceedings. A person could be sentenced to immediate custody if they refused to pay the fine but not for TV licence evasion.
	
		
			  Number of persons proceeded against at magistrates courts and found guilty at all courts for television licence evasion( 1) , by sex, Kettering Local Justice Area, Northamptonshire police force area and England and Wales, 2009( 2,3) 
			  Area  Proceeded against  Found guilty 
			  England and Wales   
			 Males 54,706 47,398 
			 Females 111,778 101,099 
			 Persons(4) 166,834 148,780 
			  Of which:   
			  Northamptonshire police force area   
			 Males 617 543 
			 Females 1,205 1,120 
			 Persons(4) 1,823 1,663 
			  Of which:   
			  Kettering Local Justice Area   
			 Males 81 73 
			 Females 119 113 
			 Persons(4) 200 186 
			 (1) Includes offences under the Communications Act 2003, section 363. (2) The figures given in the table on court proceedings relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe. (3) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used. (4) Following the introduction of the Libra case management system during 2008, offenders at magistrates courts can now be recorded as sex 'Not stated'. These data have been included in the persons only totals. Therefore, the males and females age group totals and sub-totals may not agree with the totals given under persons.  Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services-Ministry of Justice.

Sentencing

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice 
	(1)  what proportion of those enrolled on Intensive Alternatives to Custody schemes left a scheme as a result of breaching its conditions in the latest period for which figures are available; and what proportion of such persons received custodial sentences as a consequence;
	(2)  what proportion of those enrolled on Intensive Alternative to Custody schemes in the latest period for which figures are available had previously served custodial sentences;
	(3)  what actions constitute a breach of the conditions of the Intensive Alternative to Custody Scheme.

Crispin Blunt: At the end of August 2010, a total of 1,501 IAC orders had been imposed since the IAC pilots began in 2008. Of these 1,501 orders, 29.7% (446) have been terminated and the offender re-sentenced. Of those re-sentenced the vast majority, 72% (319), received immediate custodial sentences, with 8% (37) receiving suspended sentences. The remainder have been given or are awaiting another disposal.
	Figures for the number of breaches which result in termination of an IAC order and the re-sentencing of an offender are not collected separately. Therefore the figures above also include offenders who have had their order terminated because they have been sentenced for an additional offence committed prior to or following the start of their IAC order. Some of these offenders will therefore have had their IAC order terminated even though they had complied with its conditions.
	Information is not collected centrally on previous court disposals for offenders sentenced to an IAC.
	IAC orders are imposed using existing legislation and are subject to the same National Standards as all other community orders. If an offender fails to comply twice without providing acceptable evidence they will be in breach within 10 days and returned to court where their IAC order may be revoked and a custodial sentence imposed. Alternatively the court may make the IAC order more onerous to mark the seriousness of the breach.

Sentencing

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will bring forward proposals to extend to all criminal offences his right to appeal against unduly lenient sentences.

Crispin Blunt: The powers for the Attorney-General (and the Solicitor-General) to refer a Crown court sentence to the Court of Appeal on the grounds of undue leniency are working well. It has been the practice of successive Governments to deal with any proposals to add individual either way offences to the scheme on their own merits. The coalition Government currently have no plans to apply the scheme to all offences.

Sentencing: Transgender

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice if he will issue guidance to  (a) magistrates and  (b) judges on the issuing of custodial sentences to (i) transgender people and (ii) people with disabilities.

Crispin Blunt: The courts are independent and cannot be instructed on sentencing by Ministers. Sentencing guidelines are issued by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales. We do of course provide information to ensure that magistrates and judges are informed about the services that are provided by the National Offender Management Service and the Youth Justice Board. Information on the arrangements for meeting the needs of transgender people and people with disabilities in custody will be issued to sentencers.

UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps his Department is taking to implement the Government's obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities set out in  (a) Article 12 on equal recognition before the law,  (b) Article 13 on access to justice,  (c) Article 14 on liberty and security of the person,  (d) Article 21 on freedom of expression and opinion and access to information and  (e) Article 22 on respect for privacy.

Jonathan Djanogly: The Ministry of Justice is committed to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and to improving outcomes for disabled people. The UK Government will report to the UN Committee in July 2011 setting out how implementation has been achieved across Government.
	A number of measures exist or are being taken forward by MoJ which support various Convention Articles, for example:
	The aims and principles of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, which came into force in October 2007, are in line with those of the UN Convention and the Act's measures are supportive of many of the Convention's requirements;
	The support provided to disabled people who go to court, e.g. through provision of BSL interpreters, hearing loop systems, Braille signage, visits to court to enable a person to familiarise themselves prior to court hearings, provision of information in alternative formats upon request; special measures to assist certain vulnerable witnesses give evidence in criminal proceedings;
	The Hate Crime Strategy (jointly with Home Office) aimed at reducing hate crime, including disability hate crime, supporting victims and bringing offenders to justice;
	The framework for the management of prisoners with disabilities which aims to ensure that all prisoners, with reasonable adjustment, have access to all aspects of prison life.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Alcoholic Drinks: Prices

Paul Maynard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she expects the outcomes of her Department's study on  (a) the links between alcohol pricing and crime,  (b) the economic impact of alcohol price interventions on industry and  (c) public understanding of and views on alcohol price interventions to be published.

James Brokenshire: We are aiming to publish all three reports as part of the Government's review of alcohol pricing and taxation later this year.

Animal Welfare

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps her Department is taking to ensure that personnel working with animals in establishments designated under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 are trained and competent following the transposition into domestic law of the EU Directive on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes; and if she will make a statement.

Lynne Featherstone: The Council of the European Union adopted a revised text as its first reading position in June 2010. The European Parliament approved the Council's first reading position on 8 September 2010. This brought negotiation of the new European Union directive to an end. The final text will be published in the  Official Journal of the European Union shortly and will enter into force 20 days later. Member states will have two years to transpose its provisions into national legislation which must be implemented from 1 January 2013.
	I am not yet in a position to comment on the arrangements for the training and competence of personnel working with animals in establishments designated under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 following the transposition of the EU directive on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes into domestic law. A detailed assessment of the provisions of the new directive is under way and will in due course be included in a public consultation on options for transposition.

Animal Welfare

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what effects on the level of protection given to pre-hatch birds used in experimental procedures the transposition into domestic law of the EU directive on the protection of animals used in scientific procedures will have.

Lynne Featherstone: The Council of the European Union adopted a revised text as its first reading position in June 2010. The European Parliament approved the Council's first reading position on 8 September 2010. This brought negotiation of the new European Union directive to an end. The final text will be published in the  Official Journal of the European Union shortly and will enter into force 20 days later. Member states will have two years to transpose its provisions into national legislation which must be implemented from 1 January 2013.
	I am not yet in a position to comment whether there will be any changes to the protection given to pre-hatch birds used in experimental procedures resulting from the transposition of the EU directive on the protection of animals used in scientific procedures into United Kingdom legislation. A detailed assessment of the provisions of the new directive is under way and will in due course be included in a public consultation on options for transposition.

Animal Welfare

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many procedures have been licensed which were deemed likely to cause severe pain or distress to animals that could not be alleviated in each of the last three years.

Lynne Featherstone: At no time have procedures been licensed under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 which were deemed likely to cause severe pain or distress to animals that cannot be alleviated. This is not permissible under the 1986 Act.

Animal Welfare

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether she intends to transpose into domestic law the derogation within the EU directive on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes allowing the use of procedures involving severe pain, suffering or distress to animals that is likely to be long-lasting and cannot be ameliorated.

Lynne Featherstone: The Council of the European Union adopted a revised text as its first reading position in June 2010. The European Parliament approved the Council's first reading position on 8 September 2010. This brought negotiation of the new European Union directive to an end. The final text will be published in the  Official Journal of the European Union shortly and will enter into force 20 days later. Member states will have two years to transpose its provisions into national legislation which must be implemented from 1 January 2013.
	I am not yet in a position to comment on the transposition into domestic law of the derogation within the EU directive on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes allowing the use of procedures involving severe pain, suffering or distress to animals that is likely to be long-lasting and cannot be ameliorated. A detailed assessment of the provisions of the new directive is under way and will in due course be included in a public consultation on options for transposition.

Animal Welfare

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many inspections of establishments designated under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 were carried out by the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Inspectorate in 2009.

Lynne Featherstone: During 2009 the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Inspectorate carried out 1,994 visits to establishments designated under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and of visits specifically to animal units 70% were made without notice.

Animal Welfare

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in which areas she plans to opt to maintain the provisions of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 for safeguarding animal welfare where they are more restrictive than those that will be required within the EU Directive on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes.

Lynne Featherstone: The Council of the European Union adopted a revised text as its first reading position in June 2010. The European Parliament approved the Council's first reading position on 8 September 2010. This brought negotiation of the new European Union directive to an end. The final text will be published in the  Official Journal of the European Union shortly and will enter into force 20 days later. Member states will have two years to transpose its provisions into national legislation which must be implemented from 1 January 2013.
	I am not yet in a position to comment on plans to maintain the provisions of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 for safeguarding animal welfare where they are stricter than those that will be required within the EU directive on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes. A detailed assessment of the provisions of the new directive is under way and will in due course be included in a public consultation on options for transposition.

Animal Welfare

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the implications of the implementation on the European Directive on the Protection of Animals Used for Scientific Procedures for the  (a) role and  (b) future funding of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Inspectorate.

Lynne Featherstone: The Council of the European Union adopted a revised text as its first reading position in June 2010. The European Parliament approved the Council's first reading position on 8 September 2010. This brought negotiation of the new European Union directive to an end. The final text will be published in the  Official Journal of the European Union shortly and will enter into force 20 days later. Member states will have two years to transpose its provisions into national legislation which must be implemented from 1 January 2013.
	I am not yet in a position to comment on the implications of the new directive for the future role and funding of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Inspectorate. A detailed assessment of the provisions of the new directive is under way and will in due course be included in a public consultation on options for transposition.

Borders: Personal Records

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the change in security clearance requirements for personnel working on the e-Borders programme resulted in an extension to the time taken to deliver the programme.

Damian Green: The change in security clearance requirements for personnel from the Service Provider working on the e-Borders Programme did not result in a time extension for the programme.

Citizenship

James Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people  (a) applied for and  (b) were granted UK citizenship in (i) each year since 1997 and (ii) each of the last eight quarters for which figures are available; and how many people of each nationality were granted citizenship in (A) 1997 and (B) the most recent year for which figures are available.

Damian Green: Data covering applications for and grants of British citizenship in the United Kingdom for the years 1997 to 2009 were published in supplementary table A of the Home Office statistical bulletin 'British Citizenship Statistics United Kingdom, 2009' while figures for the eight quarters ending quarter 2 2010 were published in table 4.7 of the 'Control of Immigration: Quarterly Statistical Summary, United Kingdom April-June 2010'.
	Data for quarter 3 2010 are scheduled for publication on 25 November 2010.
	Grants of British citizenship for 1997 and 2009 by the applicants' previous nationality were published in supplementary table C of 'British Citizenship Statistics United Kingdom, 2009'.
	Both of these Home Office statistical publications are available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics website at:
	http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration-asylum-stats.html

Entry Clearances: Employment

Phil Woolas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her policy is on implementation of the proposal for a directive on the conditions of entry and residence of third country nationals for the purpose of seasonal employment (COM (2010) 379; Council Doc. 12208/10); and if she will make a statement.

Damian Green: holding answer 25 October 2010
	 The United Kingdom is not opting into this proposal.

Equality Act 2010

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps she has taken to assess the effect on small businesses of the provisions of the Equality Act 2010.

Lynne Featherstone: The Equality Act 2010 updates and streamlines the equality legislation from the last four decades. It replaces nine different pieces of legislation with a modern and accessible framework, simplifying the law, making it more consistent and therefore reducing the burden on business.
	The impact assessment for the Equality Act 2010 examines the effect on business of the various provisions contained in the Act. The effect on small and medium enterprises is identified but there has been no separate assessment for small businesses. The impact assessment which was published in April 2010 and is available in the House Library and from the Government Equalities Office website.

Equality Act 2010

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate her Department has made of the cost to small businesses of implementation of the provisions of the Equality Act 2010.

Lynne Featherstone: The Equality Act 2010 updates and streamlines the equality legislation from the last four decades. It replaces nine different pieces of legislation with a modern and accessible framework, simplifying the law, making it more consistent and therefore reducing the burden on business.
	The impact assessment for the Equality Act 2010 estimates the cost to business of the various provisions contained in the Act. Costs to small and medium enterprises are identified but there has been no separate assessment for small businesses. The impact assessment was published in April 2010 and is available in the House Library and from the Government Equalities Office website.

Equality Act 2010

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will estimate the number of cases expected to be brought against employers arising from the provisions of the Equality Act 2010.

Lynne Featherstone: I refer my hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 19 October 2010,  Official Report, column 636W. A copy of the impact assessment for the Equality Act 2010 is available in the Library or the Government Equalities Office website at:
	http://www.equalities.gov.uk/pdf/Equality%20Act%20Impact.pdf
	The Equality Act 2010 updates and streamlines the equality legislation that has built up over the last four decades. It replaces nine different pieces of legislation with a modern and accessible framework, simplifying the law, making it easier for people to understand their rights and responsibilities and comply.

Identity and Passport Service

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many  (a) staff are employed and  (b) people were interviewed in the last 12 months at each of the Identity and Passport Service Interview Offices which are (i) proposed to be closed and (ii) expected to remain open.

Damian Green: The following table sets out the requested information. Just over 300,000 interviews were carried out in the last 12 months. Of these, 77% were conducted at interview offices which the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) propose to keep open and a further 8% were conducted at offices which IPS propose to replace with mobile interview teams within the same local area.
	
		
			  Office  Staff number (full-time equivalent)  Staff number (headcount)  Number interviewed (between  w/e 4 October 2009 to w/e 26 September 20 10 inc . )  Comments 
			  Recommended to close 
			 Aberdeen 4.38 6 1,907 Recommended to close 
			 Armagh 2.29 5 1,008 Recommended to close 
			 Bournemouth 5.04 6 2,632 Recommended to close 
			 Brighton 7.25 8 4,082 Recommended to close 
			 Cheltenham 4.5 5 2,667 Recommended to close 
			 Exeter 3.75 5 2,625 Recommended to close 
			 Ipswich 5.5 6 2,463 Recommended to close 
			 Kendal 3 4 1,215 Recommended to close 
			 Kings Lynn 2.75 6 901 Recommended to close 
			 Lincoln 6.29 8 2,743 Recommended to close 
			 Middlesbrough 8 8 3,689 Recommended to close 
			 Northampton 6 7 4,395 Recommended to close 
			 Oxford 4.53 5 3,626 Recommended to close 
			 Ripon 1.08 4 601 Recommended to close 
			 Selkirk 1.12 4 292 Recommended to close 
			 Shrewsbury 2.69 4 1,995 Recommended to close 
			 St Austell 4 7 1,644 Recommended to close 
			 Stoke 5.5 6 3,632 Recommended to close 
			 Swindon 2.69 4 2,015 Recommended to close 
			 York 4.35 6 1,845 Recommended to close 
			 Total 84.71 114 45,977  
			  
			  Replaced by mobile team in same location 
			 Aberystwyth 1.56 4 573 Replaced by mobile team in same location 
			 Carlisle 2.5 5 1,267 Replaced by mobile team in same location 
			 Coleraine 3.96 6 1,297 Replaced by mobile team in same location 
			 Dundee 4.5 5 2,273 Replaced by mobile team in same location 
			 Hull 6.5 7 2,919 Replaced by mobile team in same location 
			 Inverness 3.29 7 854 Replaced by mobile team in same location 
			 Newport IOW 1.08 3 516 Replaced by mobile team in same location 
			 Norwich 6 7 2,824 Replaced by mobile team in same location 
			 Swansea 7 8 3,569 Replaced by mobile team in same location 
			 Warwick 4.12 6 3,199 Replaced by mobile team in same location 
			 Wick 0.81 3 159 Replaced by mobile team in same location 
			 Wrexham 4.97 6 2,901 Replaced by mobile team in same location 
			 Yeovil 3 4 1,738 Replaced by mobile team in same location 
			 Total 49.29 71 24,089  
			  
			  Recommended to remain open 
			 Belfast 5.76 8 3,922 Recommended to remain open 
			 Birmingham 19.25 22 20,870 Recommended to remain open 
			 Blackburn 8.5 10 6,970 Recommended to remain open 
			 Bristol 6.46 8 5,070 Recommended to remain open 
			 Chelmsford 8.5 10 10,189 Recommended to remain open 
			 Crawley 7.25 8 6,656 Recommended to remain open 
			 Derby 9.97 12 7,119 Recommended to remain open 
			 Edinburgh 6.15 8 3,988 Recommended to remain open 
			 Glasgow 15.85 20 9,794 Recommended to remain open 
			 Leeds 11 11 11,198 Recommended to remain open 
			 Leicester 7 8 6,073 Recommended to remain open 
			 Liverpool 13.8 18 9,059 Recommended to remain open 
			 London 45.69 51 55,223 Recommended to remain open 
			 Luton 10.5 13 13,268 Recommended to remain open 
			 Maidstone 8 9 6,816 Recommended to remain open 
			 Manchester 15 17 13,639 Recommended to remain open 
			 Newcastle 12.5 16 6,798 Recommended to remain open 
			 Newport 7.79 9 5,975 Recommended to remain open 
			 Peterborough 4.98 7 3,892 Recommended to remain open 
			 Plymouth 4.5 5 1,926 Recommended to remain open 
			 Portsmouth 6.51 8 4,801 Recommended to remain open 
			 Reading 8.27 9 11,830 Recommended to remain open 
			 Sheffield 11.75 13 7,292 Recommended to remain open 
			 Total 255 300 232,368  
			  
			 Grand total 389 485 302,434

Illegal Immigrants

Phil Woolas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the likely effect on the number of removals of illegal immigrants of the planned reduction in returns awards.

Damian Green: During the past year we have made a number of changes to our return schemes for illegal immigrants. Our schemes include Voluntary Assisted Return and Reintegration Programme (VARRP), Assisted Voluntary Return for Irregular Migrants scheme (AVRIM), Assisted Voluntary Return for Families and Children (AVRFC).
	We have also made changes to the Facilitated Returns Scheme for Foreign National Prisoners.
	Although the impact of the changes to these return schemes is unknown at this time, it is anticipated that the schemes will continue to significant illegal immigrant and foreign national prisoner removals in 2010.

Immigration

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many applications from UK residents returning to the UK from  (a) Canada,  (b) Australia and  (c) New Zealand in the last year for which information is available were (i) approved and (ii) rejected.

Damian Green: The information requested by my hon. Friend with regard to the number of returning resident applications approved and rejected for the period July 2009 to June 2010 for Canada, Australia and New Zealand is shown in the following table:
	
		
			  July 2009 to June 2010 stats on returning resident from Australia, Canada and New Zealand 
			  Country  Issued  Refused 
			 Australia 11 6 
			 Canada 0 9 
			 New Zealand 0 0 
			  Note: These data are based on Management Information and is therefore provisional and subject to change. 
		
	
	A returning resident is a resident who has left the UK for no longer than two years and who wishes to return to live in the UK permanently.

Law Enforcement Agencies: Assets

Jack Lopresti: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what her most recent estimate is of the average annual monetary value of assets seized by law enforcement agencies in the UK; and what proportion of the monetary value of such assets was reallocated to law enforcement in the latest year for which figures are available.

James Brokenshire: The Home Office received a total of £150 million of criminal assets in 2009-10 after receivers' fees had been deducted. Under the current Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme half of all assets recovered are returned to law enforcement agencies involved in the asset recovery process, including the police, Crown Prosecution Service and HM Courts Service.
	In 2009-10, £75 million was returned to front line agencies.

National Border Targeting Centre

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether changing the location of the National Border Targeting Centre resulted in an extension in the time taken to deliver the e-Borders programme; and if she will make a statement.

Damian Green: The change in location of the National Border Targeting Centre did not affect the time scale for delivering the e-Borders programme.

Passports: Biometrics

Michael Meacher: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will re-tender the e-passport contract; and if she will consider the merits of the proposal by 3M in respect of the cost of fulfilling the contract over the next 10 years.

Damian Green: holding answer 21 October 2010
	 Following your meeting with me on 15 September 2010, the position remains the same and the e-passport contract will not be re-tendered.
	Subsequent correspondence associated with the meeting confirms that the merits of 3M's proposal have been carefully considered, and I can therefore see no objective or convincing arguments to justify changing the contractual relationship with De La Rue at this juncture.

Passports: Fraud

David Nuttall: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many fraudulent passports were seized in the UK in  (a) 2007,  (b) 2008 and  (c) 2009.

Damian Green: The following table details the detections of false passports encountered by the Immigration and Nationality Directorate of the Home Office (before 31 March 2007), the Border and Immigration Agency (between 1 April 2007 and 31 March 2008) and the UK Border Agency (since 1 April 2008).
	
		
			   Number 
			 2007 6,939 
			 2008 5,960 
			 2009 4,621 
		
	
	The figures detail detections at the border and those made in country by caseworking offices and enforcement officers. They do not include the numbers of inadequately documented passengers denied boarding by commercial carriers overseas working in conjunction with UK immigration liaison officers and managers (formerly airline liaison officers). Some of these passengers will have held false documents but precise figures for the numbers denied boarding for this reason are unavailable.

Trusted Borders Consortium

Lindsay Roy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many times  (a) she and her predecessor and  (b) the Permanent Secretary of her Department have met representatives from each of the companies in Trusted Borders Consortium in the last 12 months.

Damian Green: holding answer 19 October 2010
	The Trusted Borders Consortium was made up of Raytheon Systems Limited (prime), Accenture, Detica, Serco, QinetiQ, Steria, and Capgemini.
	Meetings in the last 12 months were held as follows:
	4 February 2010-Former Home Secretary Alan Johnson met Dawn Elaine, a Contract Director with Serco.
	19 April 2010-the Permanent Secretary met Lord Geoffrey Filkin and Tom Riall of Serco.

Visas

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many visas of each type were issued to Mongolian nationals in each of the last 24 months; and what the average time taken was between receipt of application and decision for such visas issued in each such month.

Damian Green: holding answer 21 October 2010
	The number of visas issued by month during the period July 2008 to June 2010 to Mongolians in each entry clearance endorsement category are shown in Table A. Table B shows the average time taken (in working days) to resolve an application in each entry clearance endorsement category in each month between July 2008 and June 2010.
	The UK Border Agency has agreed customer service standards for processing visa applications. These are:
	to conclude 90% of non-settlement applications within three weeks, 98% within six weeks and 100% within 12 weeks; and
	to conclude 95% of settlement applications within 12 weeks and 100% within 24 weeks.
	A guide to recent processing times for applications lodged at each of the UK Border Agency's visa application centres overseas is available on its website at:
	www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/visas
	
		
			  Table A: Number of visas issued to Mongolian nationals by endorsement category 
			   2008  2009 
			  Endorsement category  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec  Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  June 
			 EEA Family Permits 0 2 3 4 3 1 - 1 1 3 2 2 
			 Family Visit 30 23 35 26 21 43 33 33 22 36 38 45 
			 Other Non Settlement 12 1 12 2 1 2 6 2 - 5 1 3 
			 Other Visitor 75 51 78 65 48 70 47 65 50 94 81 132 
			 PBS Tier 1 - - - - - - - - - 0 0 1 
			 PBS Tier 2 - - - - - - - - - - 1 0 
			 PBS Tier 4 - - - - - - - - - 0 2 5 
			 PBS Tier 5 - - - - - - - - - 0 11 2 
			 Settlement 2 3 4 5 2 1 2 4 4 3 0 2 
			 Student 25 56 63 29 25 12 58 21 20 19 8 3 
			 Transit - 1 0 0 0 2 - 2 0 1 1 3 
			 Work permit 1  0 0 1 1 - 0 0 0 - - 
			 Overall issued 145 137 195 131 101 132 146 128 97 161 145 198 
		
	
	
		
			   2009  2010 
			  Endorsement category  July  Aug  Sept  Oct  Nov  Dec  Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  June 
			 EEA Family Permits 4 - - 2 0 2 2 3 3 0 1 1 
			 Family Visit 47 17 43 17 38 42 35 23 19 32 42 21 
			 Other Non Settlement 1 1 1 3 32 6 3 4 - 8 4 4 
			 Other Visitor 75 47 76 78 122 55 49 47 67 64 72 124 
			 PBS Tier 1 1 1 1 - 5 0 1 0 0 0 1 - 
			 PBS Tier 2 - 1 - 0 1 - 0 1 - 1 - 0 
			 PBS Tier 4 27 54 57 29 8 18 8 48 4 4 3 10 
			 PBS Tier 5 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 2 - 1 2 
			 Settlement 1 0 3 1 1 0 3 2 0 1 -2 1 
			 Student 2 4 3 1 4 6 3 1 0 0 0 0 
			 Transit 1 0 - - - - - - - - 0 1 
			 Work permit - 1 1 0 0 - - - - - - - 
			 Overall issued 160 126 185 132 211 129 105 130 95 110 126 164 
		
	
	
		
			  Table B: Average working days taken to resolve an application by endorsement category 
			   2008  2009 
			  Endorsement category  Jul y  Aug  Sep t  Oct  Nov  Dec  Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  Jun e 
			 EEA Family Permits - 6 1 2 1 3 - 0 6 14 11 6 
			 Family Visit 5 7 6 10 6 3 7 2 5 3 4 2 
			 HSMP - - - - - - - - - - - - 
			 Other Non Settlement 8 0 4 2 4 2 6 4 - 4 3 3 
			 Other Visitor 4 3 4 3 5 3 7 4 3 4 4 3 
			 PBS Tier 1 - - - - - - - - - 2 1 1 
			 PBS Tier 2 - - - - - - - - - - 4 - 
			 PBS Tier 4 - - - - - - - - - 3 4 6 
			 PBS Tier 5 - - - - - - - - - - 4 8 
			 Settlement 26 24 7 47 8 - 12 67 21 2 - 2 
			 Student 5 7 7 4 5 3 10 5 6 10 8 3 
			 Transit - 0 10 - - 2 - 1 - 1 2 1 
			 Work permit 2 - - 11 4 7 - 2 - - - - 
		
	
	
		
			   2009  2010 
			  Endorsement category  Jul y  Aug  Sep t  Oct  Nov  Dec  Jan  Feb  Mar  Apr  May  Jun e 
			 EEA Family Permits 2 - - 2 0 3 1 2 4 - 23 36 
			 Family Visit 5 3 5 2 6 4 7 5 7 12 9 7 
			 HSMP - - - - 1 - - - - - - - 
			 Other Non Settlement 2 2 12 4 1 2 2 2 - 15 3 2 
			 Other Visitor 4 5 2 5 2 4 4 4 3 6 6 4 
			 PBS Tier 1 - 2 9 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 3 - 
			 PBS Tier 2 - 8 - - 0 - - 4 - 8 - - 
			 PBS Tier 4 10 5 5 4 8 13 17 41 41 83 19 48 
			 PBS Tier 5 15 - - 5 - - 3 1 0 - 0 3 
			 Settlement 11 28 12 44 10 20 14 5 0 24 9 33 
			 Student - 3 0 - - 3 26 - - 67 - 3 
			 Transit 3 5 - - - - - - - - - 11 
			 Work permit - 3 4 - - - - - - - - - 
			  Source:  CRS; Run date 21 October 2010.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

West Lothian Question

David Evennett: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when he plans to establish a commission to consider the West Lothian question; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Harper: We aim to announce our plans for a commission by the end of the year.

Political Reform

Jo Swinson: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to take account of diversity in political representation in his political reform proposals; and if he will make a statement.

Nicholas Clegg: The Government are committed to tackling the barriers preventing under-represented groups from participating in political life. We are developing proposals to introduce extra support for disabled people and our other proposed reforms give us the opportunity to help ensure that politics is representative of the communities it serves.

Electoral Register

Amber Rudd: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what recent assessment he has made of the accuracy of the electoral register.

Mark Harper: The Government have not made such an assessment. However, the Electoral Commission in its March 2010 report 'The completeness and accuracy of electoral registers in Great Britain' found:
	"... it is likely that the accuracy of the registers remains broadly similar to past decades"
	and that:
	"... the major source of inaccuracy remains electors moving home and not informing the relevant Electoral Registration Officer (ERO)".
	It is clear that more can be done to support accuracy. To this end, the Government have announced the implementation of individual electoral registration from 2014, which will ensure that only those entitled to vote will get on the register, so bringing greater protection against electoral fraud.

Elections

Ann McKechin: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will bring forward legislative proposals to put the Interim Electoral Management Board for Scotland on a statutory basis in respect of elections which remain the responsibility of the UK Government.

Mark Harper: The Scottish Government introduced the Local Electoral Administration (Scotland) Bill in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday 7 October. The Bill includes provisions to allow for the Electoral Management Board to be established in statute as an independent body, representing Returning Officers and Electoral Registration Officers. Its convenor will have a statutory power of direction over Returning Officers who are in charge of Scottish Local Government elections.
	The Government intend to devolve responsibility for the administration of the Scottish Parliament elections to the Scottish Government in accordance with the recommendations of the Calman Commission. It will be then for the Scottish Government to decide whether they wish to put the Interim Electoral Management Board on a statutory basis for that election.
	For European Parliamentary elections a Regional Returning Officer (RRO) is appointed. The RRO has a power of direction over the local Returning Officer in his or her region. There are no plans at this stage to bring forward legislation to put the Interim Management Board for Scotland on a statutory basis in respect of elections which are the responsibility of the UK Government. However, we will keep the position under review.

Elections: Fraud

Paul Uppal: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps the Government are taking to reduce the level of electoral fraud by personation.

Mark Harper: The available evidence suggests that current instances of personation are relatively low. Data are not as yet available for the 2010 UK General Election, though the report by the Electoral Commission and the Association of Chief Police Officers, Analysis of allegations of electoral malpractice at the June 2009 elections, found that there were 13 cases of personation at the June 2009 elections. These figures should be put in the context that more than 22 million votes were cast in the June 2009 elections across the United Kingdom.
	The Government are committed to tackling electoral fraud and have announced that it will legislate to bring Individual Electoral Registration into force in 2014, ahead of the next general election. Individual Electoral Registration will require each voter to register individually and to provide three personal identifiers; signature, date of birth and National Insurance Number, the last two of which will be cross checked with the Department for Work and Pensions before anyone is added to the electoral register. This will make the electoral register more accurate and more secure, and thus should strengthen the integrity of the voting process at elections.
	The Electoral Commission's report on the administration of the May 2010 General Election published in July explained that the Commission had worked with the Association of Chief Police Officers to ensure that cases of alleged electoral malpractice reported to the police have been consistently and comprehensively recorded across the UK since the beginning of 2010. The Electoral Commission will publish verified data and analysis on the extent and nature of cases of electoral malpractice at the General Election in January 2011.
	We will consider the Electoral Commission's report carefully when it is published together with what action may be necessary to address any issues that may highlighted by the report.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Argentina: Fossil Fuels

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the Government of Argentina on fossil fuel subsidy reform.

Henry Bellingham: The issue of fossil fuel subsidy reform was discussed with the Government of Argentina during the Group of Twenty summit in Toronto in June.

Capita

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many contracts his Department has with Capita; and how much it has paid to Capita under such contracts in 2010-11 to date.

Alistair Burt: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has no current contracts with Capita and as a result, no payments have been made to them this financial year.
	FCO Services, a Trading Fund of the FCO has six contracts with Capita. As a Trading Fund, FCO Services uses Capita under a Government procurement framework which allows it to acquire specific skills and resources on a flexible basis as and when the commercial need arises and only where it judges this option to be better value for money than to permanently recruit staff with those skills. It has spent £394,073 in 2010-11 to date.

Departmental Press: Subscriptions

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much his Department spent on newspapers, periodicals and trade profession magazines in each year since 1997.

Alistair Burt: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office introduced a new financial accounting system in March 2004 therefore the figures given for the period before 2004-05 have been collected on a different basis from the subsequent period. From 2004 onwards, the costs quoted are worldwide spend and include monies spent on electronic subscriptions to enable staff based in the UK and our posts worldwide to access a range of different media.
	
		
			  Financial year  £ 
			 1997-98 489,895 
			 1998-99 586,510 
			 1999-2000 566,067 
			 2000-01 588,078 
			 2001-02 590,721 
			 2002-03 608,401 
			 2003-04 (1)- 
			 2004-05 2,101,892 
			 2005-06 1,747,126 
			 2006-07 2,221,786 
			 2007-08 3,207,113 
			 2008-09 1,973,251 
			 2009-10 2,436,547 
			 (1) Not held.

Departmental Public Expenditure

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to publish equality impact assessments undertaken by his Department as part of the comprehensive spending review; and if he will make a statement.

Alistair Burt: Following the announcement of the spending review, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office will ensure that we fulfil our statutory requirements when considering any decisions that may potentially impact our workforce or the services we provide to British nationals.
	The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is committed to meeting our equality duties and will take appropriate and reasonable action to meet our obligations.

Departmental Spending

Yvette Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs 
	(1)  what estimate he has made of his Department's programme spending on  (a) counter-terrorism and  (b) Afghan counter-narcotics programmes in each year from 2011-12 to 2014-15;
	(2)  what estimate he has made of his Department's programme spending in support of counter-proliferation in each year from 2011-12 to 2014-15;
	(3)  what estimate he has made of his Department's programme spending on human rights and democracy in each year from 2011-12 to 2014-15.

William Hague: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has not yet set its budgets for 2011-12 or future years. We will be deciding on allocations in the light of the recent Spending Round Settlement.

Departmental Travel

Mike Gapes: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what budget has been set for travel by Ministers in his Department in 2010-11.

Alistair Burt: The budget set for both UK and Overseas travel for 2010-11 is as follows:
	
		
			  Office of:  £ 
			 Henry Bellingham 97,470 
			 Jeremy Browne 79,200 
			 Secretary of State 1,082,830 
			 David Lidington 77,590 
			 Alistair Burt 127,665 
			 Lord Howell of Guildford 42,653 
		
	
	It is essential for Ministers to travel throughout the global network to attend high level talks, conferences and negotiations. Budgets have been set to reflect the demands of each Minister's portfolio. Distance and frequency of travel both impact on the costs incurred.
	Any expenditure incurred on official travel is kept under rigorous scrutiny to ensure value for money and effectiveness and is incurred in accordance with the principles of Managing Public Money and the Treasury handbook on Regularity, Propriety and Value for Money.

Departmental Visits Abroad

David Simpson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much his Department spent on overseas visits for senior officials in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Alistair Burt: I refer the hon. member to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office website where this information is already available for UK based senior officials:
	http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-us/publications-and-documents/publications1/annual-reports/senior-staff-expenses/
	Information for overseas-based senior officials is not held in this format and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	Travel is undertaken in accordance with the Civil Service Management Code.

Developing Countries: Fossil fuels

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans his Department has for discussions on fossil fuel subsidy reform with other governments; and if he will make a statement.

Henry Bellingham: The issue of fossil fuel subsidy reform was discussed by G20 Finance Ministers on 22 October. The issue will also be discussed at the G20 summit in Seoul in November, where the G20 will review the progress made to implement the national commitments to reduce fossil fuel subsidies.

Fossil Fuels: India

Zac Goldsmith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the Government of India on fossil fuel subsidy reform.

Henry Bellingham: The issue of fossil fuel subsidy reform was discussed with the Government of India during the G20 summit in Toronto in June.

Human Rights

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he made of the cost to his Department and its non-departmental public bodies of compliance with  (a) domestic,  (b) European and  (c) other international human rights requirements in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Jeremy Browne: My Department and its non-departmental public bodies are committed to the defence and promotion of international human rights. We ensure that our work is conducted with respect to our obligations under domestic, European and international law. Resources expended on this area are within the context of our normal work, but an accurate estimate of the total cost of compliance with human rights obligations could not be made without incurring disproportionate cost.

Ilois: Resettlement

Peter Bottomley: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has received from the US administration on resettlement of the outer Chagos islands; when such representations were last received  (a) in public and  (b) in private; what the rank was of the official who made such representations; and on what occasion he most recently discussed the issue with his US counterpart.

Henry Bellingham: The use of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) including Diego Garcia is regulated by a series of bilateral agreements between the UK and US. The 1966 Exchange of Notes provides that the whole of the territory shall be available for defence purposes.
	The US Administration have regularly made clear their concerns about the possible restoration of a settled civilian population in the territory. Letters dated November 2004 and January 2006 from the State Department confirming this position have been made available to the UK courts.
	US concerns over the implications of resettlement of the outer islands were most recently confirmed in October during the annual UK/US Political-Military talks on BIOT when US officials set out the US Government's position.
	My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and I have not discussed the issue directly with our US counterparts.

Religious Freedom: Christianity

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in respect of which countries he has received reports of attacks on Christians in the last three months; and what discussions he has had on this issue with his counterpart in each such country.

Jeremy Browne: The Government condemn all instances of violence and discrimination against individuals and groups because of their faith or belief. Our overseas missions monitor human rights in their host countries, raise our concerns about individual cases and lobby for changes in discriminatory practices and laws.
	My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary, Foreign and Commonwealth Office Ministers and senior officials regularly raise human rights, including freedom of religion and belief.
	Examples over the last three months include in Morocco, where our ambassador to Morocco raised concerns with the Moroccan Minister of Foreign Affairs over the expulsion of 16 British nationals for alleged proselytising; in Pakistan, where the Minister for South Asia raised the issue of persecution of religious minorities with the Pakistan Federal Minister of Minorities; and in Burma where, following reports of attacks on Christian communities in Karen and Chin State, embassy officials met with representatives of these groups. Our ambassador to Burma also recently raised human rights concerns directly with the Burmese military Government.

Turkey: Trials

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what observers from the UK Embassy in Turkey have been present at the trial of Kurdish defendants in Diyarbakir which began on 18 October 2010; and if he will make a statement.

David Lidington: Our embassy in Ankara is monitoring the Diyarbakir trial, but has not sent any observers to attend the proceedings. This is being kept under review and the embassy has not ruled out sending observers to the trial at a later date.
	The trial has been monitored by Turkish and international media, UK parliamentarians (including the hon. Member himself) and non-governmental organisations. We expect high legal and judicial standards to be observed throughout the trial.

UN Security Council

Jo Swinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans Ministers in his Department have to participate in the Ministerial level debate on women, peace and security in the UN Security Council on 26 October 2010; and if he will make a statement.

Henry Bellingham: Our ambassador to the United Nations will represent the UK at the debate on Women, Peace and Security at the UN Security Council today, 26 October 2010.
	The UK remains a leading supporter of UN Security Council Resolution 1325. My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary is committed to working for the protection of women in conflict and their participation in conflict resolution.
	We will shortly launch our national action plan that sets out how the Government will integrate Women, Peace and Security into our core activity in conflict affected states. This includes specific action plans for priority countries, including Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

UN Women

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the cost to the United Nations of the establishment of the post of Head of United Nations Women.

Jeremy Browne: The proposed budget for UN Women has not yet been published. We expect an announcement on funding, including for the Under-Secretary-General to head the agency, within the next few weeks.
	The UK fully supports the establishment of UN Women, a powerful new body to deliver real change for the world's women.

CABINET OFFICE

Absent Voting: General Election 2010

Simon Wright: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office in which 10 parliamentary constituencies the  (a) lowest and  (b) highest proportion of the electorate were issued with postal vote ballot papers for the 2010 general election; and what the proportion of the electorate was in each case.

Mark Harper: The 2010 General Election: aspects of participation and administration, prepared for the Electoral Commission by the elections centre at the university of Plymouth, finds that at the May 2010 general election the 10 parliamentary constituencies in which the  (a) lowest and  (b) highest proportion of the electorate were issued with postal vote ballot papers were as follows:
	
		
			  Lowest proportion of the electorate issued with postal vote ballot papers 
			  Parliamentary Constituency  Percentage  issued with postal vote 
			 Brent Central 7.7 
			 Birmingham Erdington 7.7 
			 Motherwell and Wishaw 7.5 
			 Birmingham Perry Barr 7.4 
			 Cambridgeshire North East 7.4 
			 Ealing North 7.1 
			 Hull West and Hessle 7.1 
			 Lewisham West and Penge 6.8 
			 Hull East 6.7 
			 Hull North 5.9 
		
	
	
		
			  Highest proportion of the electorate issued with postal vote ballot papers 
			  Parliamentary Constituency  Percentage  issued with postal vote 
			 Newcastle Upon Tyne North 40.6 
			 Houghton and Sunderland South 38.9 
			 Sunderland Central 37.4 
			 Washington and Sunderland West 37.2 
			 South Shields 36.2 
			 Jarrow 35.3 
			 Blyth Valley 34.8 
			 Stevenage 34.5 
			 Newcastle Upon Tyne Central 34.5 
			 Telford 31.8

Departmental Contracts

Ian Austin: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what the monetary value is of contracts his Department has awarded to each  (a) management consultancy and  (b) IT company since 7 May 2010.

Francis Maude: It is not possible to report on lifetime contract values awarded during this period without incurring disproportionate costs.
	However, the accounting system shows the following in-year values for contracts awarded between 7 May and 18 October of the corresponding financial year:
	
		
			  £ 
			   Value awarded for : 
			   FY2010-11  FY2009-10 
			 Consultancy 1,255,146 5,089,068 
			 IT 2,217,564 12,078,974 
		
	
	A breakdown of those data by supplier will be placed in the Library of the House.

Departmental Disciplinary Proceedings

Priti Patel: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many officials in his Department have been  (a) subject to disciplinary action,  (b) removed from post,  (c) transferred to another position and  (d) dismissed for matters relating to their (i) disciplinary record and (ii) performance in each year since 1997.

Francis Maude: The number of officials who were subject to serious and gross misconduct is set out in the table. There are no complete records held centrally about minor misconduct as these cases are devolved to local unit managers. To obtain this information would represent a disproportionate cost. There is no information held about disciplinary cases before 2004.
	
		
			  Number 
			   Disciplined  Removed  Transferred  Dismissed 
			 2010 (1)- (1)- (1)- (1)- 
			 2009 7 0 0 (1)- 
			 2008 9 (1)- (1)- (1)- 
			 2007 6 0 0 (1)- 
			 2006 (1)- 0 0 0 
			 2005 (1)- 0 0 (1)- 
			 2004 8 0 0 (1)- 
			 (1 )Less than 5-The policy of the Cabinet Office is to withhold data which could identify an individual.

Departmental Pay

Priti Patel: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how much was paid to officials in his Department and its non-departmental public bodies in bonuses and other payments in addition to salary in each year since 1997; how many officials received such payments; and what the monetary value was of the largest 20 payments made in each such year.

Francis Maude: The Department only holds the information requested from 2003.
	The following table details the amount paid in non-consolidated awards to officials, how many officials received such awards and the largest 20 payments made in the Cabinet Office for the years 2003 to 2009 is detailed as follows:
	
		
			   Paid in  Number of officials who received a payment  Total paid in non-consolidated awards (£)  Value of largest 20 payments made (£) 
			 2008-09 2009-10 788 1,769,265 15,000 
			 12,500 
			 10,000 
			 9,000 
			 2007-08 2008-09 745 1,745,118 24,000 
			 22,000 
			 20,000 
			 17,500 
			 15,000 
			 12,000 
			 2006-07 2007-08 884 1,750,242 18,000 
			 15,000 
			 13,000 
			 9,000 
			 2005-06 2006-07 809 1,608,000 16,000 
			 12.500 
			 8,500 
			 2004-05 2005-06 867 1,402,000 (1)- 
			 2003-04(1) 2004-05 838 1,225,802 (1)- 
			 (1) Information not available 
		
	
	There are also a small number of staff who received in-year non-consolidated awards over this period. These decisions are delegated to line managers and as such the total cost is not held centrally and would be available only at disproportionate cost.

Departmental Pay

Priti Patel: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what allowances and payments in addition to salary were available to officials in his Department and its non-departmental public bodies in each year since 1997; and what the monetary value was of payments and allowances of each type in each such year.

Francis Maude: Cabinet Office uses pay allowances as a cost effective way to recruit and retain staff to posts that require specialist skills or long or un-social hours. Allowances are non-consolidated monthly payments which are paid in lieu of a consolidated increase to basic salary and cease when staff move from qualifying posts.
	The monetary value of allowance payments to staff in the Cabinet Office for the financial year 2009 to 2010 was £1.2 million.
	Prior to 1 April 2009 the Department did not report on the value of allowance payments separately on payroll and as such providing information on the value of allowances for each year between 1997 and 2009 would be at a disproportionate cost.

Departmental Sick Leave

Priti Patel: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office how many officials in his Department have had  (a) fewer than five days,  (b) five to 10 days,  (c) 10 to 15 days,  (d) 15 to 20 days,  (e) 20 to 25 days,  (f) 25 to 50 days,  (g) 50 to 75 days,  (h) 75 to 100 days,  (i) 100 to 150 days,  (j) 150 to 200 days,  (k) more than 200 days,  (l) more than three months,  (m) more than six months and  (n) one year on paid sick leave (i) consecutively and (ii) in total in each year since 1997.

Francis Maude: Cabinet Office sick absence data are published on the Cabinet Office website at:
	http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/about-cabinet-office/plans-performance/absence.aspx
	The specific information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would represent a disproportionate cost.

Emergency Planning College

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Emergency College at Hawkhills in training people to deal with major flooding events.

Francis Maude: The effectiveness of the training delivered at the Emergency Planning College is subject to continuous assessment within its quality regime, which includes both post-course and in-employment measurement. The average quality rating over the past year has exceeded 80%, which reflects a very high degree of customer satisfaction with all aspects of the training. The college's quality system was subject to detailed audit as part of its 'Skillsmark' Recognition in 2009, and is consistent with accepted best practice in adult education and training.
	The college does not deliver courses that specifically cover the management of major floods. Our resilience training policy rests on EPC delivering generic individual training, which underpins scenario-specific collective training and exercises conducted by local resilience forums. The scenarios and training priorities depend on the nature of the assessed local risks, with flooding featuring prominently in many areas.

Employment: St Albans

Anne Main: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what proportion of the working population of St Albans constituency is employed in the  (a) public and  (b) private sector.

Nick Hurd: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
	 Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated October 2010:
	As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking what proportion of the working population of St Albans constituency is employed by the (a) public and (b) private sector. (19690)
	Public sector employment statistics for local areas can be calculated from the Annual Population Survey. On this basis, in the 12 month period April 2009 to March 2010, 79 per cent of the working population of the St Albans constituency were employed by the private sector, with the remaining 21 per cent employed in the public sector.
	As with any sample survey, estimates from the APS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
	National and local area estimates for many labour market statistics, including employment, unemployment and claimant count are available on the NOMIS website at:
	http://www.nomisweb.co.uk

Human Rights

Priti Patel: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what estimate he made of the cost to his Department and its non-departmental public bodies of compliance with  (a) domestic,  (b) European and  (c) other international human rights requirements in each year since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Francis Maude: Cabinet Office policies and processes comply with domestic, European and international human rights requirements. No assessment has been made as to the cost and to do so now would represent a disproportionate cost.

ATTORNEY-GENERAL

Victims of Crime: Assistance

Julian Smith: To ask the Attorney-General what steps the Crown Prosecution Service is taking to increase its level of assistance to victims of crime.

Edward Garnier: There is a network of joint police and CPS Witness Care Units, whose role is to provide support to victims and witnesses in the criminal justice system. Additional training has recently been provided to the Witness Care Units and recent reports and surveys reveal that more than 80% of victims and witnesses are now satisfied with their experience of the criminal justice system.

Dr Daniel Ubani

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Attorney-General what reviews the Crown Prosecution Service has conducted of its handling of the case of Dr Daniel Ubani; and if he will make a statement.

Dominic Grieve: The hon. Member will be aware that the failure to extradite Dr Ubani from Germany was attributable to the prosecution of Dr Ubani in Germany for the offence in Cambridgeshire, without consultation with the CPS. There have, therefore, been no reviews of the handling of the case by the CPS. However there has been a meeting in The Hague, with the assistance of Eurojust, between German prosecutors, the CPS and the Cambridgeshire police to address the issues raised and seek good practice in the future.

Cases Awaiting Trial

David Tredinnick: To ask the Attorney-General what discussions the Crown Prosecution Service has had with the Ministry of Justice on steps to reduce the number of cases awaiting trial.

Dominic Grieve: There are regular discussions between the Crown Prosecution Service and the Ministry of Justice, particularly Her Majesty's Courts Service, on performance issues, including reducing the number of cases awaiting trial.
	These include regular discussions at chief executive and chief operating officer level; at a local level between chief Crown prosecutors and resident judges; and between local operational managers. The Crown Prosecution Service and Her Majesty's Courts Service have also formed a Joint National Improvement Board with a focus on improving performance.

Unduly Lenient Sentencing

Bob Blackman: To ask the Attorney-General what representations he has received on his recent report on unduly lenient sentences; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Garnier: I refer the my hon. Friend to the answer I gave to the oral questions from the hon. Members for Dartford (Gareth Johnson) and for High Peak (Andrew Bingham) today.

Crime

Keith Vaz: To ask the Attorney-General what steps the Crown Prosecution Service is taking to increase the proportion of people suspected of offences under section 14 of the Policing and Crime Act 2009 who are prosecuted.

Edward Garnier: The Crown Prosecution Service and the Association of Chief Police Officers are currently working to develop a joint strategy on the enforcement and prosecution of prostitution-related offences and the exploitation of those involved in prostitution.

Human Trafficking: Convictions

Keith Vaz: To ask the Attorney-General what steps the Crown Prosecution Service is taking to increase the proportion of prosecutions for offences of human trafficking which result in conviction.

Edward Garnier: I refer the right hon. Member to the answer I gave to the oral question from the hon. Member for South West Bedfordshire (Andrew Selous) earlier today.

Theft: Prosecutions

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Attorney-General what assessment he has made of factors affecting the success of prosecutions for shop theft.

Edward Garnier: While no separate assessment has been made of the factors affecting the success of prosecutions for shop theft, I expect all prosecutions to be conducted in accordance with the requirements set out in the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) Code for Crown Prosecutors and the commitments outlined in the CPS Core Quality Standards.
	The CPS's central records include a count of defendants proceeded against for offences of theft and handling, but do not separately identify cases of theft from shops. The figures for 2009-10 indicate strong performance in respect of theft and handling cases, with a success rate of approximately 93%.

BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS

Apprentices: Finance

Andrew Stephenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what his policy is on the provision of funding for pre-apprentice courses.

John Hayes: The Government are keen for as many people as possible to benefit from an apprenticeship. We are looking at how training and support available through a wide range of routes could be harnessed to prepare people for this opportunity, and at whether it may be necessary to create specific, designated pre-apprenticeship training. Indeed, our recent consultation on the future direction of skills policy sought views on what form of pre-apprenticeship training might be appropriate and how we could ensure it was a first step towards ongoing learning. However, the details of what these routes may look like have not yet been determined. Consideration of funding arrangements is a key element in the development of our policy.

Broadband

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what criteria his Department used to determine the locations for each superfast broadband pilot.

Edward Vaizey: The criteria used were those advertised on the BDUK industry day on 15 July 2010. The locations that were chosen by the devolved Administrations and regional development agencies were selected on the basis that they offered combinations of the following:
	Are currently uneconomic due to unattractive payback period but would be long-term commercially sustainable;
	Provide opportunity to reuse existing infrastructure: Telco supplier's infrastructure Utility infrastructure or Public sector networks;
	Leverage additional sources of funds (e.g. European, public and private);
	Provide maximum learning opportunities on cost, revenue take-up and other project information;
	Testing different delivery and commercial models.

Broadband

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills which locations considered for superfast broadband pilots were not proceeded with; and for what reason in each case.

Edward Vaizey: 11 locations were proposed, one from each devolved Administration and regional development agency. Those selected were deemed to offer the required mix of learning opportunities from the selection criteria.

Broadband

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of each pilot scheme for superfast broadband.

Edward Vaizey: Broadband Delivery UK is discussing the scope and scale of the pilots with the relevant local bodies and will assess the appropriate level of funding to provide for each dependent on the outcome of those discussions. A notional allocation of £5 million to £10 million has been made, subject to a process of due diligence.

Business

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many meetings  (a) Ministers and  (b) officials of his Department have had with other Departments on job and wealth creation for small businesses since his appointment.

Mark Prisk: 99.9% of all businesses are SMEs. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has an important influencing role at the heart of government as the 'Department for Growth', both in terms of employment and wealth creation. Ministers and officials from BIS are therefore constantly meeting with other Departments to achieve this.

Business

Julian Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what initiatives his Department has taken to connect with small businesses through the use of new technology  (a) in consultations and  (b) otherwise since his appointment.

Mark Prisk: BIS is employing new technology to connect with small businesses. Our consultation documents are published online and are all linked to Directgov, so that SMEs can search for relevant consultation exercise and provide responses. We are also using e-consultation and Survey Monkeys, and our published consultation documents support open RDF format making them easier to find.
	In addition, BIS is committed to work with colleagues in HMRC, who manage the Businesslink.gov.uk programme, to ensure that we make the best use of new technology when delivering support to business. We are currently exploring several areas such as the use of Open Standards, APIs, syndication and mobile services with a view to further enhance our use of new technology in delivering service to both small and medium-sized companies.

Business: Females

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent representations he has received on the number of companies listed on the FTSE 100 index who have women on their executive boards.

Mark Prisk: Lord Davies of Abersoch is currently leading a review into Women on Boards. During the course of this work we will be consulting widely, including with FTSE 100 companies who have women on their boards.

Business: Females

Valerie Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether his Department has made a recent estimate of the number of private sector enterprises  (a) in each sector and  (b) of each size with women on their executive boards.

Mark Prisk: BIS has not made any estimate of the number of private sector enterprises in each sector and of each size with women on their executive boards.
	A broad estimate of the proportion of women on boards across the UK corporate sector as a whole is approximately 7.8%.
	The most authoritative source that tracks developments in the UK's top performing companies is the Female FTSE Report, which monitors trends in the proportion of women holding executive and non-executive directorships across all the FTSE listings. The latest data are as follows:
	(1) Source:
	'Women on Boards: A Statistical Review by Country, Region, Sector and Market Index; Governance Metrics International; March 2009'.
	 Note:
	The sector information in this report is at a global level, not UK level.
	
		
			  Board members who are women 
			  Index  Percentage 
			 FTSE 100 12.2 
			 FTSE 250 7.3 
			 FTSE AIM 4.8 
			 FTSE Small Cap 6.3 
			 FTSE Techmark 100 6.0 
			 FTSE Techmark All-Share 6.9 
			 FTSE Fledgling 5.8 
			  Source: Female FTSE Report, November 2009.

Business: Government Assistance

Richard Harrington: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what plans the Government have to encourage people to start up new businesses in their local areas.

Mark Prisk: The coalition Government are committed to making the coming decade the most entrepreneurial and dynamic in Britain's history.
	The Department has brought together a forum of entrepreneurs, educators and sector representatives to build a consensus on how best learning institutions might further improve and promote enterprise education. This work is designed to ensure the opportunities to develop enterprise and entrepreneurial skills, including those needed to encourage people to start-up new businesses, are supported and promoted throughout education.
	The Government have also announced a New Enterprise Allowance which will support start-ups among the unemployed. It will give an unemployed person entering self-employment the support they need to start a successful business.
	Government have also announced a dedicated area on the businesslink.gov website for start ups. This will include a package of online training as well as tools and templates to help people think through what they need to do when starting up

Business: Loans

Alun Cairns: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent discussions he has had with banks on lending to small and medium-sized businesses.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 25 October 2010
	I have had several discussions with banks recently regarding bank lending to small and medium-sized (SMEs) businesses.
	As referred to in the Business Finance Green Paper, the major UK banks and the British Bankers Association (BBA) Taskforce has explored several issues affecting SMEs. I have met with the BBA Taskforce and as my hon. Friend may know the taskforce has now published its report 'Supporting UK Businesses' which sets out 17 actions designed to improve lending to small and medium-sized businesses by taskforce banks.
	I recently chaired the first meeting of the Small Business Economic Forum which forms an important platform for bringing small business representatives and banks together on a regular basis to discuss bank lending alongside other business finance and economic issues facing small and medium-sized businesses.

Business: Loans

Karen Lumley: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will take steps to ensure that large businesses do not relocate outside the UK as a result of inadequate access to bank finance.

Edward Davey: The decisions of businesses to remain in the UK are complex. The Government are committed to promoting growth by tackling the deficit, rebalancing the economy and creating the right conditions to support a private sector-led recovery.
	Over the summer, the Government issued the Green Paper, "Financing a Private Sector Recovery". This consulted on what is needed to ensure stable financial conditions for business; improvements to the bank lending environment, and; to ensure businesses can access a range of sources of finance. Government will shortly be setting out the action that is being taken in response to this consultation, in ensuring that UK businesses have appropriate and adequate access to finance.

Business: Loans

Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what steps he is taking to encourage banks to lend to small businesses.

Mark Prisk: The coalition Government have articulated their ambition to ensure the flow of credit to viable SMEs. Our consultation on business finance issues, "Financing a private sector recovery" closed on the 20 September, and received many responses from a wide range of firms, business representative bodies, individuals and investors. We are currently considering the Government's response which will be given shortly.
	As referred to in the Business Finance Green Paper, the major UK banks and the British Bankers Association (BBA) taskforce have explored several issues affecting SMEs. I have met with the BBA Taskforce and as the hon. Member may know the taskforce has now published its report "Supporting UK Businesses" which sets out 17 actions designed to improve lending to small businesses by taskforce banks. I will follow keenly to ensure that banks deliver on the recommendations outlined in the report.
	I recently chaired the first meeting of the Small Business Economic Forum which forms an important platform for bringing small business representatives and banks together on a regular basis to discuss bank lending alongside other business finance and economic issues facing small businesses.

Community Interest Companies: Greater London

David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills how many community interest companies are registered in  (a) Bexleyheath and Crayford,  (b) the London Borough of Bexley and  (c) London.

Edward Davey: The number of community interest companies registered in  (a) Bexleyheath and Crayford, and  (b) the London Borough of Bexley and  (c) London are as follows:
	
		
			   Number 
			 Bexleyheath and Crayford 2 
			 The London Borough of Bexley 11 
			 London 888 
		
	
	This statistical information is estimated using postcode data provided in the current registered office addresses of community interest companies on the public register of companies.

Departmental Carbon Emissions

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he has made an estimate of the change in the level of carbon dioxide emissions from his Department since May 2010; and what steps he plans to take to meet his Department's target of reducing such emissions by 10 per cent. by May 2011.

Edward Davey: The Department is committed to reducing its carbon emissions; this is demonstrated by the 14.68% reduction in emissions in 2009/10 compared with 2008/09. Our progress against the 10% target and our plans to reduce emissions by May 2011 can be found on the following link:
	http://data.gov.uk/departmental-performance-co2-emissions-reduction-date
	We have completed some of our key initiatives recently including installing Voltage reduction technology at our main ministerial building, 1-19 Victoria Street, adjusted building temperature set points and are engaging with staff to help us achieve the target.

Departmental Recruitment

David Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what plans he has to recruit staff to Senior Civil Service posts in the next 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

Edward Davey: A recruitment freeze is currently in place, which affects all external recruitment into the Civil Service, with exemptions allowed for business critical and frontline posts. The Fast Stream graduate programme is also exempt.
	If Departments decide they need to recruit staff to one of the Top 200 Civil Service posts (the most senior posts in the Civil Service) there is a protocol drawn up by the Senior Leadership Committee and the Civil Service Commissioners. It outlines the process in which appointments to and within the Top 200 are handled.
	Within BIS, the only Senior Civil Service recruitment we have undertaken since the introduction of the recruitment freeze is for a Director General level Economist. As a major economic department of state the Senior Leadership Committee agreed that this was a business critical post and could be filled by an open competition to ensure that the department had the best field of candidates to consider for the role.
	Following the spending review, BIS is reviewing its organisational design, and is considering the need for senior recruitment as part of that process.

Electronic Equipment

Rehman Chishti: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will take steps to prevent the sale in the UK of electronic goods with components made from minerals illegally mined in conflict-affected countries.

Edward Davey: Having a strong, robust and transparent minerals sector is vitally important for the prosperity of many countries. We welcome measures to bring an end to illegal activities in mining and the trade of minerals, and to make the sector more productive and accountable.
	We encourage British companies trading in natural resources from countries which are in a state of internal conflict to do so in a way which is socially, economically and environmentally responsible, and to adhere to the voluntary guidelines set out by the OECD.
	There is considerable international work currently in progress at the moment and we remain of the view that voluntary initiatives such as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) are effective tools. The Government consider international approaches are likely to work better than any national approach.

Green Investment Bank

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether the Green Investment Bank will be able to raise money on the financial markets.

Mark Prisk: We are committed to working with the private sector to establish a Green Investment Bank that is effective in mobilising additional private sector investment into green infrastructure projects. The precise nature of the Green Investment Bank is subject to further design and testing work.

Green Investment Bank

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what forecast his Department has made of the funding that will be available to the Green Investment Bank in each of the next five years; and what the sources are of such funding.

Mark Prisk: I refer the hon. Member to the Chancellor's spending review statement of 20 October 2010.
	As the Chancellor had announced, we will be funding the Green Investment Bank from £1 billion of departmental budgets, as well as from additional significant proceeds from Government's asset sales. While it would not be appropriate to speculate on the timing of asset sales, the use of these proceeds should provide opportunities for additional funding to be available over the next five years.

Local Enterprise Partnerships: North East

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what progress has been made in his Department's consideration of applications to establish local enterprise partnerships in the North East; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Prisk: Ministers are currently examining the proposals in detail, looking at how they will support economic growth, before providing feedback to partnerships shortly. Discussions have also been had with partners from the North East on their proposals.

New Businesses: Government Assistance

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what  (a) grants and  (b) other financial support his Department makes available to start-up businesses in areas of high unemployment.

Mark Prisk: This Department is responsible for supporting enterprise though Community Development Finance Intuitions and we work closely across Government on this agenda. CDFIs are independent financial institutions, serving a specific disadvantaged geographic area or disadvantaged groups. CDFIs provide loans to start-up companies, individuals and established enterprises from within that area or community who are unable to access finance from more traditional sources ie banks. Accredited CDFIs are able to raise lending capital through the Community Investment Tax Relief (CITR). Some CDFIs are also accredited Enterprise Finance Guarantee lenders and CDFIs are able to borrow money through EFG. Government also support the EU PROGRESS Microfinance Facility which in turn supports microfinance across Europe.
	The Government have announced a New Enterprise Allowance which will support start-ups among the unemployed.

Overseas Investment: Mongolia

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what recent representations he has received on trends in investment in Mongolia by UK-based organisations.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 25 October 2010
	HM ambassador in Mongolia provides support to UK business with interests in Mongolia, including in respect of specific contracts and investments. The British Government are aware of some specific UK business engagements in Mongolia, such as a Rio Tinto deal to mine copper and gold at the Oyu Tolgoi development.

Summertime

Tobias Ellwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what research his Department and its predecessors have undertaken in the last 20 years on the potential effects of changes in the use of British summer time.

Edward Davey: The Government have made no recent assessment of the current Summer Time arrangements but we continue to listen to representations we receive and consider any evidence presented to us.

Teesside Cast Products: Government Assistance

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what plans he has for the distribution of the remainder of the grant allocated by his Department to Corus TCP in December 2009.

Mark Prisk: holding answer 25 October 2010
	The previous Government announced the provision of £5 million of training support to Tata Steel (then Corus) in June 2009. £2.5 million of that funding was delivered by the Regional Development Agencies (Yorkshire Forward and One North East) in December 2009. A further £2.5 million was also earmarked to be provided to the company in those regions through Train to Gain. The offer of assistance was intended to contribute to training the work force, retain capacity in the UK and to help the company through the downturn and to recover more strongly as economic conditions improved.
	Almost 100 learners at Corus TCP undertook training in Business Improvement Techniques, using Train to Gain funding, with learning delivered by Gateshead College in 09/10. The Skills Funding Agency continues to work constructively with Tata Steel across a number of its sites in different regions to identify training opportunities that are eligible within the current Train to Gain rules and within future funding arrangements, and which are consistent with state aid requirements.

WOMEN AND EQUALITIES

Departmental Pay

Priti Patel: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities 
	(1)  how much was paid to the Government Equalities Office in bonuses and other payments in addition to salary in each year since 1997; how many officials received such payments; and what the monetary value was of the largest 20 payments made in each such year;
	(2)  what allowances and payments in addition to salary were available to officials in the Government Equalities Office in each year since its inception; and what the monetary value was of payments and allowances of each type in each such year.

Lynne Featherstone: Since the Government Equalities Office was established on 12 October 2007, the following bonuses have been awarded to GEO staff:
	
		
			  Financial year  Number of staff  Total amount of bonuses awarded in GEO (£) 
			 2007-08(1) 32 41,186 
			 2008-09 49 43,400 
			 2009-10 67 61,400 
			 2010-11(2) 5 45,000 
			 (1) From 12 October 2007 to 31 March 2008. (2 )From 1 April 2010 to 30 September 2010. 
		
	
	The top 20 bonus payments are shown as follows divided into ranges. The table gives the range value of the top 20 payments.
	
		
			  Bonus size  2007-08  2008-09  2009-10  2010-11( 1) 
			 £0-£999 12 17 14 - 
			 £1,000-£4,999 5 - 1 - 
			 £5,000-£9,999 2 2 4 3 
			 £10,000-£14,999 1 1 1 2 
			 (1) Only five bonuses have been awarded in 2010-11 
		
	
	The amounts paid to officials other than performance related payments and salaries are drawn from a number of allowances which are detailed as follows:
	Temporary Responsibility Allowance
	Recruitment and Retention Allowance
	Procurement Allowances
	Accountancy Allowances
	Analyst Allowances-introduced in 2009
	Supervisory Allowances
	Private Office Allowances
	On-Call Allowances
	Fast Stream Allowances-being withdrawn
	Detached Duty Allowances
	Duty Officer Allowances
	The following table shows the amount paid in other payments in addition to salary in each year:
	
		
			  Financial year  Number of employees qualifying for allowance  Amount awarded in allowances (£) 
			 2007-08 16 24,486 
			 2008-09 35 64,597 
			 2009-10 34 48,111 
			 2010-11 22 36,684

Departmental Visits Abroad

David Simpson: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities how much the Government Equalities Office spent on overseas visits for senior officials in the last 12 months for which figures are available.

Lynne Featherstone: For the most recent 12 month period for which figures are available-September 2009 to August 2010-the Government Equalities Office spent £14,255 on overseas visits by its senior officials.

TREASURY

Businesses

Sam Gyimah: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what arrangements HM Revenue and Customs have made to provide  (a) advice to and  (b) support for small businesses.

David Gauke: HMRC currently provides advice to small businesses through the HMRC website, 'Taxhelp' and other pages of businesslink.gov.uk, a range of dedicated and general telephone help lines, and face to face appointments in HMRC Enquiry Centres. Around 70% of small and medium sized businesses engage professional help to manage some or all of their financial requirements including tax matters. Both small businesses and tax agents can also access information and advice through face to face advice events, published bulletins for employers and CD ROMs.
	HMRC supports small businesses in temporary financial difficulties by providing time to pay arrangements allowing tax debts to be budgeted for in instalments. In addition to this, HMRC continues to reduce administrative burdens and remains committed to simplifying the tax system to reduce the costs for small businesses in complying with their tax obligations. HMRC are increasingly working through third parties to offer necessary support where they know that businesses are more likely to respond to messages from these sources.

Child Benefit

Anne McGuire: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many families in  (a) Stirling constituency,  (b) Scotland and  (c) Great Britain are receiving child benefit for (i) one child, (ii) two children, (iii) three children, (iv) four children, (v) five children, (vi) six children and (vii) more than six children.

David Gauke: holding answer 19 October 2010
	Information on the number of families claiming child benefit, split by number of children up to four, can be found at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/child_benefit/chb-geog-aug09.pdf
	This information is based on a snapshot as at August 2009 of all child benefit claims.

Child Benefit: Norwich

Simon Wright: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many and what proportion of households in Norwich South constituency are in receipt of child benefit.

David Gauke: The latest information on the number of families receiving child benefit, by each parliamentary constituency, local authority and region is available in the HMRC snapshot publication "Child Benefit Statistics Geographical Analysis. August 2009". This can be found at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/child_benefit/chb-geog-aug09.pdf
	Take-up rates for child benefit are not available by constituency. It is estimated that approximately 97% of families in the UK claim child benefit.
	Estimates of take-up rate for child benefit in 2007-08 are detailed in the HMRC publication "Child Benefit, Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit Take-up Rates 2007-08", which is available on the HMRC website at:
	http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/stats/personal-tax-credits/cwtc-take-up.htm

Foreign Exchange

Grahame Morris: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the adequacy of arrangements for the regulation of companies trading in foreign exchange markets; and if he will make a statement.

Mark Hoban: Regulation governing wholesale foreign exchange trading in the UK flows from UK and EU legislation. As with financial services regulation generally, future changes may be considered appropriate and the UK will be closely involved in any European initiative affecting the foreign exchange market.
	As regards the regulation of retail foreign exchange services, I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply I gave the hon. Member for Tewkesbury (Mr Robertson) on 19 October 2010,  Official Report, column 677W.

Incentives

Priti Patel: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was paid in bonuses to staff of HM Revenue and Customs in each of the last three years; and how many staff in each role received such bonuses in each such year.

David Gauke: holding answer 19 October 2010
	HMRC operates two bonus arrangements:
	Performance bonuses tied to the annual performance for delegated grades and senior civil servants; and
	A recognition bonus scheme for delegated grades which recognises exceptional in year performance.
	
		
			   Total bonuses paid  (£) 
			 2007-08 20,209,000 
			 2008-09 13,004,000 
			 2009-10 13,420,000 
		
	
	HMRC does not hold any bonus data by role.
	A two-year pay freeze applies to HMRC staff for grades below senior civil service (SCS) in 2011-12 and 2012-13. This affects everyone earning more than the full-time equivalent of £21,000 a year. As part of the freeze, the bonus pot for staff in delegated grades has been frozen as a percentage of paybill at the previous year's level. A pay freeze is in place for the SCS in 2010-11.

PAYE

Stewart Hosie: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer on what date the management of HM Revenue and Customs was informed that miscalculations of tax liability in the PAYE system had been made resulting in the overpayment and underpayment of tax; and on what date Ministers were informed.

David Gauke: Under and overpayments have been a feature of the PAYE system since it was introduced in 1944. They are mainly caused by a change of circumstances in year and are not usually the result of an error.
	HMRC's management have kept closely in touch with the plans to run automated end of year reconciliation, and this is detailed in the NAO's report on HMRC's accounts for 2009-10, which is available at:
	http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/1011/hmrc_accounts_2009-10.aspx
	Treasury Ministers were advised in July 2010 that HMRC intended to commence automated end of year reconciliation processing using the new National Insurance and PAYE Service (NPS).

PAYE: Gateshead

Ian Mearns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many residents of Gateshead borough have been identified as having  (a) underpaid and  (b) overpaid PAYE contributions during the recent automated reconciliation of such payments.

David Gauke: The information requested is available only at disproportionate cost, as HMRC does not hold those data in relation to MPs' constituencies.

Revenue and Customs: Manpower

Priti Patel: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many staff HM Revenue and Customs employed at management grades in each of the last three years; and what the average salary was of such an employee in each such year.

David Gauke: The number of staff employed in management grades at 31 March each year and their average salary at that date was as follows:
	
		
			   2010  2009  2008 
			  Grade  Headcount  Full- time equivalent  Average  s alary  (£)  Headcount  Full- time equivalent  Average  s alary  (£)  Headcount  Full- time equivalent  Average salary  (£) 
			 SCS 383 378.6 86,199.7 407 401.6 84,728.0 393 387.7 83,713.3 
			 Grade 6 1,188 1,135.56 65,227.00 1,213 1,166.4 64,394.5 1,153 1,125.0 63,737.5 
			 Grade 7 2,487 2,386.1 51,183.2 2,556 2,459.5 5,046.7 2,387 2,323.1 49,957.7 
			 Fast stream 423 420.8 31,915.6 491 488.3 31,223.6 617 612.4 32,404.7 
			 Senior officer 3,752 3,627.3 38,627.3 4,089 3,972.4 38,175.3 3,919 3,854.3 37,945.4 
			 Higher officer 9,615 9,105.00 31,509.7 10,410 9,933.7 31,068.3 10,501 10,141.8 30,654.9 
			 Officer 17,884 16,536.3 25,235.0 21,591 20,168.3 24,916.0 22,164 20,838.6 24,619.3 
		
	
	A two-year pay freeze applies to HMRC staff for grades below Senior Civil Service (SCS) in 2011-12 and 2012-13. This affects everyone earning more than the full-time equivalent of £21,000 a year. A pay freeze is already in place for the SCS in 2010-11.

Revenue and Customs: Standards

Priti Patel: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many HM Revenue and Customs staff were  (a) disciplined and  (b) dismissed as a result of (i) errors made by them and (ii) poor performance in another respect in each of the last 24 months for which figures are available.

David Gauke: The following table provides information on the total number of disciplinary cases dealt by HMRC, as HMRC's systems do not disaggregate disciplinary cases by the term "error".
	HMRC does not handle poor performance as a disciplinary matter. It is dealt with under separate Managing Poor Performance procedures. However, the following table includes figures for the numbers of dismissals as a result of poor performance or poor attendance.
	
		
			   Number of HMRC staff disciplined  
			   Total  O f which: Dismissals  Dismissed as a result of poor performance or poor attendance 
			  2008
			 September 52 11 29 
			 October 66 17 30 
			 November 55 12 28 
			 December 55 10 26 
			  2009
			 January 55 8 18 
			 February 78 18 34 
			 March 77 23 34 
			 April 60 10 37 
			 May 18 2 40 
			 June 42 12 33 
			 July 67 13 31 
			 August 50 18 35 
			 September 44 12 30 
			 October 61 16 43 
			 November 52 14 35 
			 December 29 12 32 
			  2010
			 January 66 26 30 
			 February 53 15 36 
			 March 71 19 29 
			 April 23 14 39 
			 May 21 10 32 
			 June 17 7 28 
			 July 45 16 33 
			 August 39 4 29 
			 September 34 5 38

Senior Civil Servants: Pay

Priti Patel: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much was paid to HM Revenue and Customs staff in management grades in  (a) salaries and  (b) expenses in the latest period for which figures are available.

David Gauke: holding answer 19 October 2010
	The salary paid to staff in management grades in the month to 30 September 2010 was as follows:
	
		
			  Grade  Salary paid (£) 
			 SCS 2,595,341 
			 Grade 6 6,194,243 
			 Grade 7 10,385,239 
			 Fast Stream 1,367,529 
			 Senior Officer 11,685,692 
			 Higher Officer 23,662,234 
			 Officer 34,221,016 
			 Total 90,111,294 
			 Salary calculation = gross annual salary (excluding NIC and superannuation x full-time equivalent value)/12 
		
	
	A two-year pay freeze applies to HMRC staff for grades below senior civil service (SCS) in 2011-12 and 2012-13. This affects everyone earning more than the full-time equivalent of £21,000 a year. A pay freeze is already in place for the SCS in 2010-11.
	The expenses paid to staff in management grades in the month to 30 September 2010 was £597,208.90; a breakdown by management grade is available only at disproportionate cost.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Carbon Sequestration: Finance

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the deferred introduction of the Carbon Capture Storage (CCS) Levy on the readiness of CCS demonstration projects to seek co-funding from the EU's NER300 mechanism.

Gregory Barker: The European Commission is expected to launch its NER process by the end of October and our aim is to publish guidance for UK projects in relation to the NER once the NER call is launched and we have more detailed information regarding that process.
	In parallel we are developing the scope and selection process of the UK CCS programme and will set out proposals on how further demonstration projects will be taken forward by the end of the year.

Carbon Sequestration: Finance

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change whether he intends to deliver more than one commercial-scale Carbon Capture Storage demonstration project; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The Government remain committed to the Coalition programme for government policy of providing public sector investment for four CCS demonstration plants. The October 2010 Spending Review announced that up to £1 billion will be invested in the first of these projects. We are now developing our approach to the additional three demonstration projects and will set out proposals on how these projects will be taken forward by the end of the year.

Carbon Sequestration: Finance

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what assessment he has made of the readiness of Carbon Capture and Storage demonstration projects to seek co-funding from the EU's NER300 mechanism; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The market sounding process carried out by the Office of Carbon Capture and Storage over the summer suggests that there are a number of UK projects interested in seeking funding from the EU NER 300 but it is not possible to say how many will meet the requirements of that process until more details are available from the European Commission.
	The Commission is expected to launch its NER process later this month and our aim is to publish guidance for UK projects in relation to the NER once the NER call is launched and we have more detailed information regarding that process.

Departmental Sick Leave

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change for how many days on average his Department's staff in each pay grade were absent from work as a result of ill health in 2009-10.

Gregory Barker: The Department encourages a culture where good attendance is expected and valued. However, it recognises from time to time absences for medical reasons may be unavoidable. The Department aims to treat its staff who are ill with sympathy and fairness and where possible provide them with support which will enable them to recover their health and return to work.
	In 2009-10 the average working days lost per grade were:
	
		
			  Grade  Average working d ays lost 
			 AA 5.4 
			 AO 6.5 
			 EO 7.1 
			 HEO 4.9 
			 SEO 5.0 
			 Grade 7 3.0 
			 Grade 6 3.4 
			 SCS 0.4

Departmental Sick Leave

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change how many officials in his Department have had  (a) fewer than five days,  (b) five to 10 days,  (c) 10 to 15 days,  (d) 15 to 20 days,  (e) 20 to 25 days,  (f) 25 to 50 days,  (g) 50 to 75 days,  (h) 75 to 100 days,  (i) 100 to 150 days,  (j) 150 to 200 days,  (k) more than 200 days,  (l) more than three months,  (m) more than six months and  (n) one year on paid sick leave (i) consecutively and (ii) in total in each year since his Department's inception.

Gregory Barker: The information requested could be provided only by incurring disproportionate costs.

Energy: Co-operatives

Luciana Berger: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his policy is on energy co-operatives.

Gregory Barker: The Government are keen to encourage a wide range of innovative approaches to buying and selling energy, particularly those which maximise local opportunities and meet the demands of local people. That is why for example local authorities were recently given the power to sell electricity from renewable sources.
	Energy co-operatives are a positive way that local authorities and their communities can come together to develop local renewable and low carbon energy projects. An online portal entitled 'Community Energy Online' will be launched in November and will provide advice and support for these groups, and include information on co-operative business models.

Energy: Housing

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what plans he has to meet representatives of the heating industry to discuss the Green Deal programme.

Gregory Barker: DECC Ministers regularly meet with stakeholders from the heating industry. During the past few months, the Green Deal has been included in these discussions. We will continue to meet with a range of stakeholders as the Green Deal develops, including the heating industry.

Energy: Housing

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what energy efficiency measures will qualify for support under his Department's proposed Green Deal programme.

Gregory Barker: Green Deal will support energy efficiency measures which constitute a fabric change to the property and pay for themselves through real reductions in household fuel bills. One of the most cost effective ways to do this is through insulating homes and this will be a focus of Green Deal. The types of energy efficiency improvement that will fit within the Green Deal framework will be the subject consultation ahead of secondary legislation on the Energy Security and Green Economy Bill.

Energy: Private Rented Housing

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps his Department plans to take to ensure take-up of the Green Deal in the private rented sector by  (a) landlords and  (b) tenants.

Gregory Barker: The energy security and green economy Bill will be introduced at the end of the year and will confirm our precise approach to improve the energy efficiency of the Private Rented Sector under the Green Deal.
	The Green Deal will offer Private Rented Sector landlords a real opportunity to invest in their property at no up-front cost. It will remove the spilt incentive that has previously hampered progress in the sector and allow tenants to repay the cost of energy efficiency measures through their energy bill savings.

Feed-in Tariffs

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will ensure that the support given to people who have already installed renewable electricity projects under the Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) scheme will be protected under any future review of the FIT scheme.

Gregory Barker: It is the Government's intention that no changes will be made to tariffs for those already receiving feed-in tariffs. Any change to tariffs resulting from a review of the FITs scheme will be directed solely on new entrants joining the scheme.

Heat Pumps

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change if he will take into account in his assessment of the renewable status of heat pumps the level of carbon dioxide emissions in respect of  (a) heat pump hardware and  (b) the manufacture and emission of fluorocarbon refrigeration gases; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: The renewable status of heat pumps is set out in Directive 2009/28/EC, dated 23 April 2009. The criteria for determining the renewable energy contribution from a heat pump is described in Annex VII of that Directive. This indicates that the Commission will establish, by 1 January 2013, guidelines on how member states are to estimate the renewable energy contribution. The Directive does not require the energy, and associated CO2 emissions, used in the manufacture of heat pumps and fluorocarbon gases to be taken into account when assessing the renewable energy contribution.
	Directive 2005/32/EC, the framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for energy-using products, requires the Commission to consider the life cycle and environmental aspects of energy using products. The Commission has yet to agree the ecodesign criterion for heating technologies, including heat pumps, though consultation documents have not included these wider energy aspects. The magnitude of manufacturing energy use is small compared with the 'in-use' energy consumption.

Heat Pumps

Andrew Love: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what information his Department collects on the fluorocarbons emitted during the manufacture and operation of heat pumps; and if he will make a statement.

Gregory Barker: A DECC/DEFRA recent review of hydrofluorocarbons (HFC) consumption and emissions forecasting estimated that 0.05 kilo tonnes of HFC was emitted from ground source heat pumps in the UK in 2008, based on 3,500 installed heat pumps. The review emphasises that these estimates are highly uncertain, although very small in relation to HFC emissions from other sectors. The review did not locate sufficient information to make an estimate of HFC emissions from air source heat pumps.

Housing: Energy

Stephen Barclay: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what estimate he has made of the number of homes in respect of which the Government has contributed to energy efficiency measures  (a) nationally,  (b) in the East of England,  (c) in Cambridgeshire and  (d) in North East Cambridgeshire constituency in each of the last three years; what estimate he has made of the number of people who were employed to undertake that work in each such year; and whether he has made an estimate of the effect on the number of new jobs of commissioning that work in each such year.

Gregory Barker: There are a range of programmes that promote energy efficiency measures including CERT, CESP and Warm Front.
	 CERT
	The Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) is an obligation on energy suppliers to reduce domestic carbon emissions. Suppliers meet their obligation by promoting the uptake of energy efficiency measures in households.
	The number of homes receiving energy efficiency measures under CERT is as follows:
	
		
			  Number of homes receiving CERT insulation measures( 1) 
			   2007-08  2008-09  2009-10 
			 England (total) (2)- 795,932 675,004 
			 East of England (2)- 82,603 61,162 
			 Cambridgeshire (including Peterborough) (2)- 9,218 9,033 
			 North-east Cambridgeshire (2)- 1,869 1,489 
			 (1) Data are collected based on the number of measures installed. It is assumed that each household treated receives 1.3 measures as some homes will receive both loft and cavity wall insulation. These estimates are made from the Energy Savings Trust's Home Energy Efficiency Database (HEED). The most complete national data available for CERT are from Ofgem. At national level HEED has under recorded the number of measures by 3% in 2008-09 and 19% in 2009-10 compared to the OFGEM totals. (2) No information currently available. 
		
	
	 CESP
	The Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) targets designated low income areas across Great Britain with whole house energy efficiency retrofits.
	We estimate that CESP will benefit 90,000 households across Great Britain. Regional figures are not available as energy companies are free to deliver CESP in any of the 4,500 eligible areas across Great Britain. However, Ofgem's six-monthly CESP progress report, which was published on 21 October, does provide a regional breakdown for the number of CESP proposals received to date as follows:
	Scotland: eight
	Wales: eight
	North East: five
	Yorkshire and Humberside: 12
	North West: 18
	East Midlands: one
	West Midlands: 19
	East of England: three
	London: five
	South East: one
	South West: one.
	 Warm Front
	Warm Front provides heating and energy efficiency measures and energy efficiency advice to vulnerable households.
	The number of households assisted under Warm Front is as follows:
	
		
			   2007-08  2008-09  2009-10 
			 England (total) 268,900 233,594 212,963 
			 East of England 24,421 25,503 19,913 
			 Cambridgeshire (including Peterborough) 2,616 2,185 2,080 
			 North-east Cambridgeshire 975 457 499 
			  Note: These figures include households receiving measures that have been traded with CERT. The number of households assisted in the CERT and Warm Front tables above may have in some cases been double counted. 
		
	
	The number of people employed directly in energy efficiency products and services in the UK has been estimated by the Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes as 50,000.
	The effect on the number of new jobs of commissioning the work to undertake the energy efficiency measures is not known for CERT, CESP or Warm Front.

Housing: Insulation

Guy Opperman: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change when he expects his Department's programme for the insulation of 3.5 million homes to be completed.

Gregory Barker: To pave the way for the Green Deal, to ensure supply chains grow to meet future challenges and so that consumers have opportunities now, we announced this summer a restructured and extended Carbon Emissions Reduction Target on energy suppliers to December 2012. The revised scheme has a renewed focus on insulation, which we estimate will deliver insulation to some 3.5 million households by December 2012.

Nuclear Power

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what the cost to his Department was of the storage of  (a) spent nuclear fuel and  (b) intermediate nuclear waste at reactor sites in the UK in the last 12 months for which figures are available; and whether his Department is taking steps to reduce such costs.

Charles Hendry: Due to the complexity of the sites, storage cost of spent fuel and intermediate level waste cannot be easily apportioned because each stream shares common resources, management arrangements and facilities. The total expenditure on Magnox reactor sites (for the year ended 31 March 2009) was £590 million. This included the operational cost for the two generating sites, Wylfa and Oldbury, of £164 million and power generating revenue of £324 million. The cost to maintain safe compliant condition on non operational sites is approximately £159 million.
	DECC, through NDA, continually drive cost efficiency into the decommissioning and waste management programme through stringent oversight and developing appropriate commercial arrangements. Cost reduction is ultimately driven through by reducing hazards at the sites by retrieving and packaging waste so that it can be stored passively and safely. Early remediation, within funding constraints, is the key to reducing ongoing liability. DECC are currently considering, as part of the current spending review, a programme that will not only meet funding constraints and accelerate hazard remediation, but also reduce the long term Nuclear Liability Estimate (NLE) at Magnox Sites by between £l billion and £1.2 billion.

Renewable Energy: Heating

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what his estimate is of the increase in  (a) average domestic gas bills,  (b) average domestic gas bills in the lowest income quintile,  (c) average industrial gas bills and  (d) gas bills among intensive-energy users by (i) 2020 and (ii) 2030 as a result of the Renewable Heat Incentive implementation of other measures designed to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Charles Hendry: As part of the spending review process, the Government announced they will not be taking forward the previous Administration's plans of funding the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme through an overly complex renewable heat levy. The forthcoming RHI will not, therefore, impact directly on domestic or non-domestic gas bills.

Tidal Power: Bristol Channel

Huw Irranca-Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change pursuant to his written statement of 18 October 2010,  Official Report, columns 42-46WS, on energy policy, what future plans he has for renewable tidal energy in the Bristol Channel; and if he will make a statement.

Charles Hendry: The Severn tidal power feasibility study has concluded that there is no strategic case for Government to support a large tidal power scheme in the Severn estuary in the immediate term. However, the Government recognises that factors which will determine the feasibility of Severn tidal power could change over time. The circumstances in which a future Government may choose to review the case for Severn tidal power are set out in the feasibility study summary report available at:
	www.decc.gov.uk/severntidalpower
	The outcome of the feasibility study does not preclude a privately financed scheme coming forward. My officials are talking to private sector consortia about their ideas.

Warm Front Scheme

Tom Greatrex: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change what steps his Department plans to take to assist the fuel-poor and vulnerable energy consumers when the Warm Front programme ends in 2011.

Gregory Barker: Funding for the Warm Front scheme was announced in the spending review through to 2012-13. Government will work to improve the cost-effectiveness of Warm Front by ensuring that the scheme is best targeted to help the most vulnerable receive free or subsidised heating and insulation measures, through a more focused programme. We will be consulting to ensure that the eligibility criteria support this objective.
	At the same time, we are working towards a further package of measures that will help support more of the most vulnerable and fuel poor households to keep their homes warm at an affordable cost. Through the CERT extension, from April 2011, we have introduced a greater focus on targeting energy efficiency measures at the most vulnerable households by introducing a Super Priority Group. And we intend to introduce mandated Social Price Support in April 2011, to replace the existing Voluntary Agreement in order to provide direct energy bill support to a large number of vulnerable households.
	From 2012, the Green Deal is expected to dramatically increase investment in energy efficiency for households and businesses across the country. It will help protect people against price rises through greater energy saving, with special support for the most vulnerable. The new Energy Company Obligation, which will take over from current schemes from the end of 2012, will run in parallel with and serve to underpin parts of the Green Deal programme. It is intended to focus particularly on households who cannot achieve financial savings without additional support, including the poorest and most vulnerable and those in hard to treat homes.
	We expect energy companies to play an even greater role than they do through the current obligations in ensuring the poorest and most vulnerable can afford to heat their homes adequately. This includes offering a wider range of measures which improve energy performance, such as heating systems.

EDUCATION

Academies

Charlotte Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the name and postcode is of each academy school; when each such school opened; who the sponsor is of each such school; and what the name was of the community school that preceded the academy school in each case.

Nick Gibb: The information requested has been placed in the House Libraries. Postcode information can be obtained from Edubase, the database of educational establishments in England:
	www.edubase.gov.uk

Academies

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what evidence he took into account in his assessment that academy schools would raise the standards of other schools in the same area; and whether he plans to review that assessment when the proposed academy schools have been established.

Nick Gibb: The Fifth Annual Independent Academies Evaluation Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers found that there is evidence of academies increasing collaboration with neighbouring primary schools and secondary schools. It also found that neighbouring schools have increasingly realised the benefits they can derive from academies with some adopting policies introduced by academies-the report found that this had a positive impact on other local schools.
	More recently, the National Audit Office report on Academies did "identify effective examples of partnership working with other schools, particularly 'feeder' primary schools".
	All outstanding schools that convert will be expected to partner and provide support to weak schools to help improve standards. Currently, the former and existing city technology colleges are sponsoring over 20 academies or are supporting weaker schools. We will continue to monitor the progress and performance of academies and ensure that they remain accountable against the results and outcomes they are expected to deliver.

Building Schools for the Future Programme

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Education pursuant to the answer of 11 October 2010,  Official Report, column 10W, on the Building Schools for the Future Programme, how much capital has been allocated to  (a) Wade Deacon School and  (b) The Grange School.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 19 October 2010
	Wade Deacon school has been allocated £28.6 million of conventional capital funding, and The Grange school has been allocated £35.3 million of PFI credits for the secondary school phase. As the Grange school will be an all-through school, Halton borough council is also planning to convert around £6.5 million of its primary capital grant into PFI credits.

Building Schools for the Future Programme: Warrington

Helen Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education 
	(1)  what recent assessment he has made of the need for building programmes at  (a) Fox Wood School,  (b) Green Lane School,  (c) Lysander High School and  (d) William Beamont High School in Warrington North constituency;
	(2)  what recent representations he has received from Warrington Borough Council on the need for building programmes at  (a) Fox Wood School,  (b) Green Lane School,  (c) Lysander High School and  (d) William Beamont High School.

Nick Gibb: holding answer 27 July 2010
	On 5 July the Secretary of State announced a review of the Department's capital programmes. The review will make recommendations to help shape the decision of future capital investment in schools including those in Warrington North constituency. The aim is to ensure that investment represents good value for money and strongly supports the Government's ambitions to reduce the deficit, raise standards and tackle disadvantage.
	The Secretary of State has not had any recent discussions with or representations from Warrington borough council about Building Schools for the Future (BSF).
	On 26 July my noble Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools met with the hon. Member for Warrington South (David Mowat) to discuss the impact of the BSF cancellations on schools in Warrington.

Children in Care: Missing Persons

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent assessment he has made of the merits of holding centrally information on the number of children who have gone missing from social services care.

Tim Loughton: It is clearly important to collect information about the number of children who have gone missing from care. This is a key indicator of whether looked after children are being appropriately safeguarded. The Department collects information on the number of looked after children absent for more than 24 hours from their agreed placement. However it is the responsibility of local authorities to safeguard and promote the well-being of children in care and they will hold more detailed information on each child who has gone missing from their care. They are expected to use this to inform their processes and procedures, and the training of staff and carers, to minimise the risk of children going missing from local placements.

Children: Chronic Conditions

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent estimate he has made of the number of children with a chronic condition requiring medical treatment in each region in the latest period for which figures are available.

Anne Milton: I have been asked to reply.
	No such estimate has been made. It is currently for individual primary care trusts within the national health service to commission services for their resident population, including services for children with a chronic condition requiring medical treatment.

Coventry Butts Street Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans his Department has for the future of the Coventry Butts Street Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency building.

Tim Loughton: The property at Butts Street, Coventry is occupied wholly by the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA). It is intended that following the abolition of the QCDA in 2012 the lease for the building will be transferred to the Department for Education.
	The Department is presently reviewing options for the future use of the building and a decision has not yet been taken.

Departmental Billing

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what the average cost to his Department was of processing the payment of an invoice in the latest period for which figures are available; and what proportion of invoices settled in that period his Department paid  (a) electronically and  (b) by cheque.

Tim Loughton: The average cost to the Department for Education, in August 2010, for processing payment of invoices was £1.60 for invoices processed electronically and £3.41 for invoices processed manually. Based on August 2010 figures, 98.61% of the Department's invoices were processed electronically and 1.39% processed by cheque.

Departmental Carbon Emissions

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether he has made an estimate of the change in the level of carbon dioxide emissions from his Department since May 2010; and what steps he plans to take to meet his Department's target of reducing such emissions by 10 per cent. by May 2011.

Tim Loughton: For the period from May to September 2010 the Department estimates it has reduced carbon dioxide emissions by over 9%.
	The Department has plans in place to achieve a 10% emissions reduction during the financial year 2010/11 compared with financial year 2009/10. This will be achieved by changes to how buildings are operated and also a communications campaign to encourage staff and building users to reduce their energy use as far as possible.

Departmental Empty Property

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what vacant leasehold properties his Department owns; how many years are left until the lease break clause in each case; and what the average rent was in each case in the latest period for which figures are available.

Tim Loughton: Details of the Department for Education's vacant leasehold properties, current annual rental costs and the date of next opportunity to break or terminate our lease in each case are shown in the following table:
	
		
			  Property  Annual rent (£)  Lease break/expiry 
			 Atlas House, Bolton 33,302 25 March 2015 
			 Blenheim Court, Peterborough 74,261 9 August 2015 
			 Unit E3 Brandon Court, Coventry 60,297 23 June 2015

Departmental Sick Leave

Mike Freer: To ask the Secretary of State for Education for how many days on average his Department's staff in each pay grade were absent from work as a result of ill health in 2009-10.

Tim Loughton: The Department for Education was formed on 12 May 2010. Information for 2009-10 relates to its predecessor, the Department for Children, Schools and Families.
	The average number of working days lost (AWDL) of all staff for the rolling period 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010 was 6.6 days. Information on absence data is published quarterly on the Department's website:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/aboutdfe/departmentalinformation/transparency/a00448/sickness-absence
	The tables on the website break the data down by grade, as well as by age, gender and geographical location.

Departmental Sick Leave

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many days his Department has lost to staff sickness in each year since 1997; and what estimate he made of the cost to his Department of sickness absence in each such year.

Tim Loughton: The Department for Education (DFE) was formed on 12 May 2010. The information covers its predecessors, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Department for Education and Skills.
	Sickness absence data for DFE and DCSF covering the periods July 2007 to June 2010 are available on the Department's website and for the period 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2007 on the Cabinet Office's website:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/aboutdfe/departmentalinformation/transparency/a00448/sickness-absence
	http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/about/resources/sickness/sickness.aspx
	No data are available for the period prior to 1 April 2003 as they were not routinely collected centrally or by Departments.
	Due to the wide range of posts and salary points in the Department, the actual costs of absences could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. Estimate costs of absence for the Civil Service between 2003 and 2007 are set out in the reports on the Cabinet Office website.

Departmental Sick Leave

Priti Patel: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many officials in his Department have had  (a) fewer than five days,  (b) five to 10 days,  (c) 10 to 15 days,  (d) 15 to 20 days,  (e) 20 to 25 days,  (f) 25 to 50 days,  (g) 50 to 75 days,  (h) 75 to 100 days,  (i) 100 to 150 days,  (j) 150 to 200 days,  (k) more than 200 days,  (l) more than three months,  (m) more than six months and  (n) one year on paid sick leave (i) consecutively and (ii) in total in each year since 1997.

Tim Loughton: The Department for Education (DFE) was formed on 12 May 2010. The information covers its predecessors, the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Department for Education and Skills.
	Sickness absence data for DFE and DCSF covering the periods July 2007 to June 2010 are available on the Department's website and for the period 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2007 on the Cabinet Office's website:
	http://www.education.gov.uk/aboutdfe/departmentalinformation/transparency/a00448/sickness-absence
	http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/about/resources/sickness/sickness.aspx
	The latest published information shows the average number of working days lost (AWDL) for staff for the rolling period 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2010 at 6.6 days. The tables on the DFE website break the figures down according to grade, age, gender and geographical location.
	No data are available for the period prior to 1 April 2003 as it was not routinely collected centrally or by departments.
	The data, broken down as requested, could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Non-Departmental Public Bodies

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many staff his Department plans to  (a) recruit and  (b) transfer to new duties as a result of the implementation of the proposals for the reform of non-departmental public bodies; and how many redundancies he expects to result from the implementation of these proposals.

Tim Loughton: There are no plans to recruit new staff into the Department for Education to undertake duties previously carried out by non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs). There are likely to be existing staff in NDPBs who will transfer into the Department, under Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment (TUPE) regulations or in accordance with the Cabinet Office Statement of Practice (COSOP) on staff transfers in the public sector. It is not possible to say how many staff will transfer into the Department, or give the numbers of existing departmental staff who will change their responsibilities to undertake work previously carried out by our NDPBs, at this stage of the reform programme.
	The Secretary of State announced the closure of the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA) and the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA) earlier this year. Some activity formerly undertaken by BECTA will return to the Department and will result in staff transferring into the Department under TUPE/COSOP arrangements. No decisions have been made about transferring activity undertaken by QCDA.
	The number of staff to be made redundant due to the closure of these NDPBs is not known. There are consultations under way or about to commence with staff which could result in some staff retiring or leaving under voluntary severance terms.
	The current cross-Government recruitment freeze also means that staff who leave are not replaced unless they are considered critical to continuous effective delivery until closure.
	On 14 October 2010 the Cabinet Office announced the initial findings of the coalition Government's pledge to increase the transparency and accountability of public bodies. The announcement gave an update on Government-wide plans to abolish, merge, reform or review 901 NDPBs. The work to review and reform public bodies continues in the Department and its outcome will inform decisions about the future of its other NDPBs. This, combined with the outcome of the comprehensive spending review, is likely to mean further staff reductions across the Department and its NDPBs, but it is not possible to give an indication of the numbers at this time.

Pupils: Disadvantaged

Nicky Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent representations he has received on the effect of family debt on the educational attainment of children in deprived areas.

Tim Loughton: holding answer 13 October 2010
	 The Secretary of State has not received any recent representations on the effect of family debt on the educational attainment of children in deprived areas.

Schools: Doncaster

Rosie Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to  (a) rebuild and  (b) refurbish secondary schools in Doncaster.

Nick Gibb: As the right hon. Member may be aware, on 5 July the Secretary of State announced a review of all areas of DFE capital spending. Its purpose is to ensure that future capital investment represents good value for money and strongly supports the Government's ambitions to reduce the deficit, raise standards and tackle disadvantage. The independent capital review team is working with building companies on a pilot proposal to rebuild Campsmount Technology College in Doncaster. There is a good prospect that the new school could be built ahead of the original schedule and with significant cost savings. The funding of academies in Doncaster will be considered on a case-by-case basis. However plans for all other schools in Doncaster in line for BSF funding for refurbishment and rebuilds have been stopped at present while we await the outcome of the capital review which will report at the end of this calendar year.

Schools: Finance

Liz Kendall: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent estimate he has made of the proportion of funding for maintained schools which comes from  (a) (i) central and (ii) local government and  (b) other sources.

Nick Gibb: From 2008-09 section 251 budget and outturn statements we estimate that 93.8% of funding for maintained schools in 2008-09 came from central Government, 0.2% from the local authority, and 6% from other sources.

Schools: Vetting

Stephen Mosley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether his Department requires those who go onto a school site to carry out repairs of service equipment to undergo a Criminal Records Bureau check.

Tim Loughton: The Government have committed to reviewing the criminal records regime in order to scale it back to common sense levels; meanwhile, previous statutory guidance remains in force. To meet inspection standards, a school must follow statutory guidance unless there is a compelling reason not to.
	The guidance states that visitors or contractors who come on site only to carry out emergency repairs or service equipment will not require a CRB check. However, the guidance makes clear that contractors do need to undergo a CRB check if they are going to be left unsupervised on school premises or if they are going to come into contact with children. Of course, the vast majority of contractors will not come into contact with children because, for health and safety reasons, children should not be allowed in areas where builders are working.
	The scope of the review will be announced shortly. The Government recognise the costs and other difficulties for applicants and employers which can arise, and will be looking at a more cost-efficient and effective way of doing things, balancing the need for people to have the freedom to go about their daily lives while safeguarding children.

Social Work Taskforce

Meg Munn: To ask the Secretary of State for Education whether he plans to implement the recommendation of the Social Work Task Force to introduce an assessed year in practice for new social workers.

Tim Loughton: The Government are committed to reforming social work and took early steps in June 2010 to confirm its support for the Social Work Reform Board which is taking forward the recommendations of the Social Work Task Force; to confirm funding for social work reform in 2010-11; and to announce the Munro Review of Child Protection which will make final recommendations in April 2011 for improving frontline child protection services.
	The transition from study to practice is a crucial time in a social worker's career and the Social Work Reform Board is looking at how this area can be improved, including options for a new Assessed Year in Employment, building on the existing Newly Qualified Social Worker programmes in the adult and children's sectors. The Social Work Reform Board will advise Government on options for the Assessed Year in Employment over the course of the coming year and the Government will consider very carefully how to take this forward.

Teachers: Pay

William Bain: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans he has to retain teachers within the profession in light of the planned two-year public sector pay freeze.

Nick Gibb: The School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document already provides maintained schools in England and Wales with the option of making additional payments or providing other financial assistance, support or benefits to a teacher in order to retain their service.
	The Government will keep under review the impact that the pay freeze has on teacher recruitment and retention.
	Teachers and other education professionals will be at the heart of the Schools White Paper, to be launched later this year, because everything else the Government want to achieve in education flows naturally from the quality and professional status of the work force.

Young People: Nottinghamshire

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what recent assessment he has made of the performance of Nottinghamshire County Council Children's Services in respect of at-risk young people.

Tim Loughton: holding answer 18 October 2010
	Ofsted published the results of their full inspection of Nottinghamshire's safeguarding and looked after children services on 21 May 2010. This report judged the council's safeguarding services to be 'inadequate', highlighting deficiencies in quality and timeliness of frontline practice, work force capacity and application of thresholds.
	The Department issued the council with an Improvement Notice on 29 June, containing a range of targets for the council to meet within a prescribed timescale. As set out in the Improvement Notice, officials from the Department routinely attend the council's monthly Improvement Board, which supports and challenges the council's ongoing plans for improvement.
	Officials also met the council recently to review progress against the requirements of the Improvement Notice, and a final review will take place when performance data relating to June 2011 are available. At that stage, Ministers will take a view as to whether any further action is necessary to secure the safety of Nottinghamshire's at-risk children and young people.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Departmental Consultants

Jeremy Lefroy: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development if he will make it his policy to limit the rate of pay of consultants funded through grants made by his Department to £300 per day or the equivalent annual salary.

Alan Duncan: The Department for International Development's (DFID's) policy is to ensure that all contracts represent value for money, by maximising efficiency savings and quality from every contract we have with consultants. All work for DFID is paid for in arrears, if we are satisfied with the product. In certain markets, we can often obtain services for less than £300 per day. Sometimes, however, complex market conditions affect fee rates, and require us to pay more, for example in specialised markets or difficult operating environments such as fragile states. In these circumstances a universal fee rate cap is not feasible.

Departmental Contracts

Andrew Bingham: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of quality management statements in assisting with contract decisions by his Department; and what assessment he has made of the effects on the prospects for small businesses of winning contracts of such statements.

Stephen O'Brien: Quality management statements are provided by suppliers at the Pre Qualification Questionnaire stage of a competitive process. This provides assurances that suppliers the Department for international Development (DFID) does business with comply with the Quality and Health and Safety standards provided by the Office of Government Commerce (OGC). This is an integral part of our assessment of a supplier. Suppliers are asked to provide either an accreditation certificate or, as an alternative, details of their quality management systems. Therefore we do not anticipate this requirement to have an impact on small and medium size enterprises winning DFID business.

Developing Countries: Politics and Government

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the oral statement of 19 October 2010,  Official Report, columns 797-801, on the Strategic Defence and Security Review, what criteria his Department uses to determine whether a state is  (a) fragile and  (b) conflict-affected.

Andrew Mitchell: The Department for International Development (DFID) does not formally distinguish between the categories of  (a) "fragile" and  (b) "conflict-affected" states. DFID uses a range of criteria drawn from internationally recognised indices, including the World Bank's Country Policy Institutional Assessment Index, the Failed State Index of the Fund for Peace, and the Uppsala datasets of Armed Conflict to determine which states are "fragile and conflict-affected".

Developing Countries: Politics and Government

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the statement of 19 October 2010,  Official Report, columns 797-801, on the Strategic Defence and Security Review, from which departmental budgets the increase in funding for the Conflict Pool will be drawn.

Andrew Mitchell: The Conflict Pool does not draw its resources from departmental budgets. The Conflict Pool is part of a separate HM Treasury settlement on conflict resources which is managed jointly by the Department for International Development, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence.

Developing Countries: Politics and Government

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the statement of 19 October 2010,  Official Report, columns 797-801, on the Strategic Defence and Security Review, from which departmental budgets funding for the increase in official development assistance to fragile and conflict-affected states will be drawn.

Andrew Mitchell: The increase in Official Development Assistance (ODA) to fragile and conflict-affected states will be drawn from the departmental budgets of the Department for International Development, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence, together with the separate Conflict Pool settlement.

Developing Countries: Politics and Government

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the statement of 19 October 2010,  Official Report, columns 797-801, on the Strategic Defence and Security Review, from which of his Department's budget lines the increase in funding for fragile and conflict-affected states will be drawn.

Andrew Mitchell: The Department for International Development (DFID) is reviewing all bilateral and multilateral programmes to ensure resources are focused where they will achieve most impact. The outcome of the reviews will determine final allocations across the Department, including to fragile and conflict-affected states.
	Funding for conflict and fragile affected states will also be provided from the separate settlement on conflict resources. The Conflict Pool does not draw its resources from departmental budgets; it is part of a separate HM Treasury settlement on conflict resources which is managed jointly by the Department for International Development, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Ministry of Defence.

Pakistan: Debts

Shabana Mahmood: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions he has had with the International Monetary Fund on the interest on Pakistan's debt repayments.

Mark Hoban: I have been asked to reply.
	Treasury Ministers regularly meet with multilateral institutions, including the International Monetary Fund, on a wide range of policy issues.

HEALTH

Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his most recent assessment is of the performance of the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs.

Anne Milton: The Department has not carried out any formal assessment of the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs (SaBTO), which was established in January 2008. However, the chair of SaBTO carries out periodic appraisals for each of the SaBTO members, which include a review of members' performance. Appointments are reviewed regularly. Officials regularly meet with the chair to discuss the work of SaBTO.
	However, as part of the implementation of the changes to the Department's advisory non-departmental public bodies (ANDPBs), we will be implementing a periodic review process, of all our significant advisory committees and ANDPBs which will incorporate an assessment of performance and effectiveness.

Advisory Committees

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what his most recent assessment is of the performance of the Committee on Medical Effects of Air Pollutants;
	(2)  what his most recent assessment is of the performance of the Committee on Carcogenicity of Chemicals in Food Consumer Products and the Environment;
	(3)  what his most recent assessment is of the performance of the Committee on Mutagenicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment.

Anne Milton: No formal assessments have been made of these committees themselves. The Chairmen and Health Protection Agency secretariats review members' contributions on an annual basis. The Department is satisfied with the advice they have provided over many years.
	As part of the implementation of the changes to the Department's advisory non-departmental public bodies (ANDPBs), we will be implementing a periodic review process (three yearly), of all our significant advisory committees and ANDPBs which will incorporate an assessment of performance and effectiveness. Wherever possible this will be conducted by an independent expert. Members' attendance and performance are assessed by committee chairs and secretariat when reappointments are considered.
	Scientific Advisory Committees must follow the code of practice for Scientific Advisory Committees. This can be viewed at:
	www.bis.gov.uk/assets/BISPartners/GoScience/Docs/C/cop-scientific-advisory-committees.pdf

Alcoholic Drinks: Expenditure

Laurence Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent estimate he has made of the annual direct cost to the NHS of treating people with  (a) tobacco and  (b) alcohol-related illnesses.

Anne Milton: The Department does not maintain an annual record of the cost to the national health service of treating people with such illnesses.
	Academic research has indicated that the direct cost to the NHS of treating people with tobacco related-illnesses in England is £2.7 billion per annum (Callum C.) (2008), The cost of smoking to the NHS in Health Economics, Policy and Law. This report is available at:
	http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayFulltext?type=l&pdftype=l&fid=7879505&jid=HEP&volume Id=-l&issueId=&aid=7879503
	There has been no recent estimate of the annual cost to the NHS of treating alcohol-related illnesses; however, a review into the total cost of alcohol harms was carried out by the Department in 2008. The cost of alcohol harm to the NHS in England estimates that the total cost of alcohol harms to the NHS is around £2.7 billion a year. A copy of this review has already been placed in the Library.
	Earlier this year, Policy Exchange estimated that the wider cost to society of tobacco use is almost £14 billion per annum. In their report, 'Cough up', they looked at the cost of early death or retirement due to sickness, payment of benefits to support widows and families, the costs of sickness at work to employers, the human and financial costs of smoking-related fires, smoking breaks at work and cleaning up cigarette butts. A copy of this report has been placed in the Library.
	Department statistics show that, in England in 2007-08, there were estimated to be 945,000 alcohol-related hospital admissions, which is 7% of all hospital admissions.
	It is estimated that up to 35% of all Accident and Emergency attendance and ambulance costs may be alcohol-related.
	The National Audit Office has carried out an audit of NHS spend on alcohol treatment. Its report, Reducing Alcohol Harm: health services in England for alcohol misuse, was published in November 2008 and found, that where primary care trust expenditure on alcohol services was known, an average of £600,000 was spent on commissioning alcohol services in 2006-07.

Arthritis: Training

Annette Brooke: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will issue guidance to GP consortia on the provision of training to commission services for people with rheumatoid arthritis that develop their ability to self-care and manage pain on a day-to-day basis.

Paul Burstow: The White Paper 'Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS' set out our proposals to devolve power and responsibility for commissioning services to local consortiums of general practitioner (GP) practices.
	GPs play a crucial role in co-ordinating patient care and committing national health service resources through daily clinical decisions. Our proposals for this new model of commissioning draw on the regular contact that GPs have with patients and their more detailed understanding of patients' wider health care needs.
	We propose that GP consortiums will be responsible for commissioning the great majority of NHS services. In doing this, they would also play a crucial role in ensuring that patients have an opportunity to exercise greater choice and control over their care and treatment, including choice of any willing provider of services.
	To support GP consortiums in their commissioning decisions, we will also create an independent NHS Commissioning Board. The NHS Commissioning Board will provide a framework to support GP consortiums in commissioning services, including setting commissioning guidelines on the basis of clinically approved quality standards developed with advice from National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, in a way that promotes joint working across health, public health and social care. We also propose that the NHS Commissioning Board would take the lead on promoting and extending patient involvement and choice.
	'Liberating the NHS: Commissioning for Patients' invited views on a number of areas of the commissioning agenda. The engagement exercise closed on 11 October and the Department is now analysing all of the contributions received.
	'Liberating the NHS: Greater choice and control', published on 18 October, seeks views on how we implement the choice commitments in the White Paper, including what can be done to encourage GP consortiums to offer appropriate choices to their populations. The consultation closes on 14 January 2011.

Autism: Health Services

Robert Buckland: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment his Department has made of the appropriateness of the care and support provided to  (a) children and  (b) adults with autism who are receiving treatment in hospitals.

Paul Burstow: The Care Quality Commission undertakes assessment of hospital and social care services to ensure they meet essential standards of quality and safety. These standards include the delivery of care, treatment and support for all individuals.
	The Autism Strategy consultations provided some personal experiences of hospital services for people and children with autism, which will inform the planned statutory guidance for health and social care bodies to support delivery of the strategy. The statutory guidance is to be published by the end of December 2010.

Breast Cancer: Screening

Angie Bray: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what progress his Department has made on its proposal to extend the age group for breast screening to include those over the age of 70 years.

Paul Burstow: The Cancer Reform Strategy (CRS) included the commitment that the NHS Breast Screening Programme would be extended to women aged 47 to 73. In June this year, we confirmed in the Revision to the NHS Operating Framework 2010-11 that all local breast screening units should begin the extension in 2010-11. To date, 14 breast screening units have expanded.
	A copy of the framework has already been placed in the Library.

Cancer: Drugs

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  whether he has made a recent assessment of the regional variation in the allocation of funds from the Government's interim Cancer Drugs Fund;
	(2)  in respect of which locations funding from the interim Cancer Drugs Fund has been allocated; and how much such funding has been allocated to  (a) the dispensing of drugs and  (b) administration of the Fund.

Paul Burstow: From 1 October 2010, strategic health authorities (SHAs) were allocated £50 million of interim funding for cancer drugs, in advance of the implementation of the Cancer Drugs Fund from April 2011. The funding was allocated using the weighted capitation formula, which distributes resources based on the relative needs of the area and takes account of such factors as the age distribution of the population and additional need in determining the appropriate allocation of funding. A table showing the allocation of funding to SHAs is included as follows:
	
		
			  Region  Allocation (£ million)  Percentage s hare 
			 North East SHA 2.8 6 
			 North West SHA 7.4 14 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber SHA 5.3 11 
			 East Midlands SHA 4.2 8 
			 West Midlands SHA 5.4 11 
			 East of England SHA 5.2 10 
			 London SHA 7.6 15 
			 South East Coast SHA 3.9 8 
			 South Central SHA 3.4 7 
			 South West SHA 4.8 10 
			 Total 50.0 100 
		
	
	The Department has issued guiding principles to SHAs, specifying that the funding is intended to pay for the purchase of drugs, and primary care trusts are expected to meet the associated service costs related to provision of these medicines.
	The guiding principles are included in Sir Bruce Keogh's letter of 27 July to SHA Directors of Finance, Deputy Directors of Finance and Medical Directors, which is available at:
	www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Lettersandcirculars/Dearcolleagueletters/DH_117996
	and a copy has been placed in the Library.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will review the level of multidisciplinary team provision for chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) to take account of the decision not to receive blood from people diagnosed with ME.

Paul Burstow: The ban on blood donations from those living with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME), to be introduced from 1 November 2010, is a precautionary measure. At the moment there is no clear evidence for the cause of CFS/ME, and health professionals should continue to use their clinical judgment to provide health and social care based on existing guidelines.

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he expects to publish the national clinical strategy on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Simon Burns: I refer the hon. Member to the written answer I gave the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South (Bridget Phillipson) on 18 October 2010,  Official Report, column 567W.

Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his most recent assessment is of the performance of the Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment.

Anne Milton: The Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment (COMARE) was reviewed in 2005 by a panel of assessors drawn from Government Departments, the devolved Administrations and other agencies with an interest in its work.
	The assessors concluded that COMARE was good value and a well run committee that more than met the needs of advice to Government.
	As part of the implementation of the changes to the Department's advisory non-departmental public bodies (ANDPBs), we will be implementing a periodic review process (three yearly), of all our significant advisory committees and ANDPBs which will incorporate an assessment of performance and effectiveness. Wherever possible this will be conducted by an independent expert.

Dementia

Madeleine Moon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will ensure that the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence review of dementia treatment takes account of the management of behaviour and symptoms with a view to reducing the prescription of anti-psychotics.

Paul Burstow: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given by the Minister of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Chelmsford (Mr Burns) on 14 October 2010,  Official Report, column 395W.

Dental Services

Paul Uppal: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has made an assessment of the financial implications for small NHS dental practices of Health Technical Memorandum 01-05 on decontamination in primary care dental practices.

Simon Burns: We are only requiring compliance with the essential quality requirements (EQR) within Health Technical Memorandum (HTM) 01-05, which add very little to the standards set in the 'A 12' guide on decontamination in dental practice, issued by the British Dental Association in 2002, with the support of the Department. Practices that were complying with this earlier guidance should therefore incur few additional costs in complying with the EQR. We have not set a date for compliance with the higher 'best practice' standards set in the HTM.

Departmental Expenditure Limit

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the planned NHS surplus for 2010-11 has been included into the baseline figure for his Department's departmental expenditure limit.

Simon Burns: Forecast underspends or overspends do not form part of the baseline in this or any other Spending Review.
	The national health service will continue to be allowed to access their accumulated surpluses as part of their agreed financial plans over the next Spending Review, in line with the requirements outlined in the Operating Framework.

Departmental Expenditure Limit

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the real terms percentage change from year to year in his departmental expenditure limit for the years 2010-11 to 2014-15.

Simon Burns: The real terms percentage changes in the departmental expenditure limit (DEL) are shown in the following table. These figures have been constructed from figures published by HM Treasury as part of the 2010 Spending Review: Resource DEL-Table A10, Capital DEL-Table A6, Total DEL-Table A9.
	
		
			  Average growth for the national health service in Spending Review 2010 
			  Average growth as a percentage 
			   2011-12  2012-13  2013-14  2014-15 
			 Resource DEL 0.9 0.2 0.2 0.0 
			 Capital DEL -15.2 -2.2 -2.4 2.0 
			 Total DEL 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 
			  Note: Calculations use the gross domestic product deflator from Budget 2010 as 1.95% for 2011-12, 2.27% for 2012-13, 2.62% for 2013-14 and 2.65% for 2014-15.

Departmental Expenditure Limit

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reason there is a difference between the Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) of £101.5 billion for his Department for 2010-11 referred to in the June 2010 Budget Red Book and the Resource DEL for 2010-11 of £98.7 billion referred to in Spending Review 2010.

Simon Burns: The figures are not comparable and are in a different financial currency. The £98.7 billion referred to in Spending Review Table A5 covers national health service expenditure in England excluding depreciation. The £101.5 billion referred to in the June 2010 Budget Red Book, is on a resource base that includes depreciation, and covers in addition to NHS England funding: expenditure on Personal Social Services and on the Food Standards Agency.

Departmental Expenditure Limit

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health with reference to Spending Review 2010, page 43, Table 2.2, for what reason depreciation is excluded from the resource departmental expenditure limit for 2010-11 for his Department.

Simon Burns: The normal protocol used by Department to report total National Health Service Expenditure is to report Revenue Departmental Expenditure Limit (DEL) including depreciation (RDEL).
	This has caused confusion in the past when RDEL is reported alongside capital (CDEL), and overall expenditure (TDEL). This is because TDEL is sum of RDEL and CDEL net of depreciation; to include depreciation would double count funding in both revenue and capital.
	The revised presentation adopted in Spending Review 2010 allows total expenditure to be calculated as a simple sum of revenue and capital.
	The alternative presentation of revenue resource DEL that includes depreciation is given in Table A10 of the statistical annex to the Spending Review.

Diabetes: Ealing

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many cases of type  (a) 1 and  (b) 2 diabetes were confirmed in Ealing, Southall constituency in each year since 2007.

Paul Burstow: Information is not collected in the format requested. The National Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF) records the number of people on practice disease registers. A register exists for diabetes, but it does not include patients below the age of 17 and does not distinguish between the two types of diabetes. Data are collected by primary care trust (PCT), not by constituency.
	The following table shows the number of patients on the diabetes disease register in Ealing PCT by financial year. Patients are aged 17 and over, and figures include both types of diabetes.
	
		
			  Number of patients on the diabetes disease register in Ealing PCT from 2006-07 
			  Financial year  Number of patients 
			 2006-07 15,703 
			 2007-08 16,459 
			 2008-09 17,523 
			 2009-10 18,878 
			  Notes: 1. The QOF was introduced as part of the new General Medical Services contract on 1 April 2004. 2. Participation by practices in the QOF is voluntary, though participation rates are very high, with most Personal Medical Services practices also taking part. 3. The published QOF information was derived from the Quality Management Analysis System (QMAS), a national information technology system that uses data from general practices to calculate individual practices' QOF achievement.  Source:  The Information Centre for health and social care

Gene Therapy Advisory Committee

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what his most recent assessment is of the performance of the Gene Therapy Advisory Committee.

Anne Milton: The Gene Therapy Advisory Committee (GTAC) operates in accordance with its standard operating procedures as laid down in the Clinical Trials Directive (2001/20/EC) which were transposed into United Kingdom law by the Medicines for Human Use (Clinical Trials) Regulations 2004. In addition to legislation, GTAC adheres to international standards on the ethics of clinical research, and ensures that the applications it receives conform to the standards established by the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki as well as the International Conference on Harmonisation - Good Clinical Practice Guidelines for Clinical Trials (ICH-GCP). The performance of the Committee's Chair and individual members is assessed by the Department and the Appointments Commission, and is taken into account in the reappointment process.

Health Protection Agency

Iain Wright: To ask the Secretary of State for Health from what sources he plans to seek independent advice on the effects of radiation following the abolition of the  (a) Health Protection Agency and  (b) Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: The Health Protection Agency will only cease to be a statutory body. Its functions will be transferred into the new Public Health Service within the Department. The Committee on Medical Aspects of Radiation in the Environment will not be abolished, but will continue as an advisory committee to the Department, other Government departments and to the Devolved Administrations. In all cases, we shall ensure that the scientists involved continue to provide independent scientific advice on the effects of radiation.

Health: VAT

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the cost to his Department of the increase in the rate of VAT in the next spending review period.

Anne Milton: We are working through the detail of the impact of the VAT increase on those national health service services which are affected in conjunction with NHS organisations. The results of this work will feed into NHS financial planning in the new year.

HIV Infection: Older People

Gavin Barwell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether his Department has plans to improve the treatment of older people who are living with HIV/AIDS.

Anne Milton: Older people with HIV receive treatment in line with guidelines produced by the British HIV Association. In 2009 almost one in five adults with HIV were aged 50 years or older compared to one in seven adults in 2005 and one in ten in 2000. Earlier this year the Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) and Joseph Rowntree Foundation published the "50 Plus" report on ageing and HIV which provides useful insights for planners and commissioners of HIV services for older people.
	The Department has funded the THT to develop a national HIV Long Term Condition Management Programme, including tackling HIV-related health inequalities, stigma and discrimination.

Hospitals: Bury

David Nuttall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many hospital-related infections were recorded in hospitals in Bury North constituency in  (a) 2007,  (b) 2008 and  (c) 2009; and how many such infections resulted in the death of a patient.

Simon Burns: Information on all healthcare associated infections (HCAIs) is not collected centrally. The mandatory surveillance system collects data on the following from acute trusts only: methicillin-resistant  Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteraemias;  Clostridium difficile infections (CDIs); glycopeptide-resistant enterococci bacteraemias (GREs); and selected orthopaedic surgical site infections (SSIs).
	Data for calendar years 2007, 2008 and 2009 for Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust are shown in the following tables.
	Information on deaths associated with HCAIs is not collected routinely.
	
		
			  Table 1 
			  Number of total MRSA bacteraemia reports by calendar year 
			   MRSA bacteraemia reports  
			  National health service trust  January to December 2007  January to December 2008  January to December 2009  Total 
			 Pennine Acute Hospitals 88 45 29 162 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of trust apportioned MRSA bacteraemia reports by calendar year (available from April 2008 only) 
			   MRSA bacteraemia reports  
			  National health service trust  April to December 2008  January to December 2009  Total 
			 Pennine Acute Hospitals 19 15 34 
		
	
	
		
			  Table  2 
			  Number of total  CDI  reports by calendar year  for patients aged 65+ 
			   CDI  reports  
			  National health service trust  January to December 2007  January to December 2008  January to December 2009  Total 
			 Pennine Acute Hospitals 555 546 448 1,549 
		
	
	
		
			  Number of total  apportioned CDI  reports by calendar year  for patients aged 2+ (available from April 2007 only) 
			   Trust appointed CDI  reports  
			  National health service trust  April  to December 2007  January to December 2008  January to December 2009  Total 
			 Pennine Acute Hospitals 293 392 290 975 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 3 
			  Annual counts of GRE bacteraemia by reporting year 
			   GRE bacteraemia reports  
			  National health service trust  1 October 2006 to 30 September 2007  1 October 2007 to 30 September 2008  1 October 2008 to 30 September 2009  Total 
			 Pennine Acute Hospitals 11 4 2 17 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 4 
			  Surveillance of SSIs in orthopaedic categories-number of operations, infections and rates by category 
			  SSIs :  In-patient or readmission SSI 
			  Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust  Number of quarters in which trust participated  Category  Number of operations  Number  Percentage 
			 2007-08 4 Hip prosthesis 293 3 1.0 
			  4 Knee prosthesis 439 0 0.0 
			  4 Hip hemiarthroplasty 187 11 5.9 
			   
			 2008-09 4 Hip prosthesis 477 9 1.9 
			  4 Knee prosthesis 610 2 0.3 
			  1(1) Hip hemiarthroplasty(1) 50 4 8.0 
			  3(2) Repair of neck of femur(2) 353 23 6.5 
			   
			 Total   2,409 52  
			  Notes: (a) It is not easy to ascertain where an infection has been acquired and these datasets include both infections acquired in hospital and in other settings. However, the MRSA and CDI system now allow for indirect identification of cases that may have been acquired within the reporting trust by calculating the elapsed time between a patient's admission date and specimen date. (b) While MRSA bacteraemias and CDI present on admission can be identified, a proportion of these are likely associated with a previous hospital admission.  Table 1: Data are as extracted from the HCAI Data Capture System on 19 April 2010, except for the total number of MRSA bacteraemia reports for 2007 which was extracted on 16 July 2009.  Table 2: Data are as extracted from the HCAI data capture system on 19 April 2010, except for the total number of CDI reports for patients aged 65+ in 2007 which was extracted on 16 July 2009.  Table 3: Data are as extracted from the HCAI data capture system on 7 June 2010.  Table 4: (1) Hip Hemiarthroplasty April-June 2008 (2) Repair of neck of femur July 2008-March 2009  Notes: 1. NHS trusts are required to undertake surveillance in at least one quarter per year in one surgical category for the mandatory surveillance on SSI in orthopaedic categories. The minimum requirement allows trusts to balance their resources. 2. Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust was able to undertake continuous surveillance since mandatory surveillance of SSI in orthopaedic categories began in 2004. Trusts are encouraged to undertake continuous surveillance to allow more precise rates to be estimated from a larger set of cumulative data. 3. Post-discharge surveillance was introduced in July 2008 across all hospitals. As a result, the main outcome measure now used for performance purposes is based on inpatient SSIs combined with readmission SSIs. 4. The repair of neck femur category replaced hip hemiarthroplasty from July 2008.  Source: Health Protection Agency

Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisations

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisations in carrying out its functions.

Anne Milton: No recent assessment has been made of the effectiveness of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) as a whole. The JCVI chair undertakes annual appraisals of members' performance and the Department carries out an annual appraisal of the JCVI chair's performance. Regular meetings held between the chair of JCVI and staff of the Department contribute to the effective performance of the JCVI's functions.
	The Department's review of Advisory Non-Departmental Public Bodies (ANDPBs), announced 14 October 2010, considered the JCVI and recommended it be reconstituted as a Department of Health/Public Health Service committee of experts.
	As part of the implementation of the changes to the ANDPBs we will be implementing a periodic review process (three yearly) of all our significant advisory committees and ANDPBs which will incorporate an assessment of performance and effectiveness. Wherever possible this will be conducted by an independent expert.

Medical Treatments

David Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many procedures using drug eluting balloons  (a) above and  (b) below the knee have taken place in each NHS trust in the latest year for which figures are available.

Simon Burns: This information is not collected centrally.

Members: Correspondence

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the Food Standards Agency (FSA) plans to reply to the e-mail from the hon. Member for Leeds Central, acknowledged by the FSA on 8 June 2010, on the labelling of alcoholic drinks.

Anne Milton: The chair of the Food Standards Agency, Lord Jeff Rooker, replied to the right hon. Member on 20 October 2010 with his apologies.

Mental Health Services: Prisons

Helen Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent discussions he has had with Ministerial colleagues on the future of mental health provision in prisons.

Paul Burstow: Department of Health and Ministry of Justice Ministers and senior officials have had discussions about the provision of mental health services in prisons as part of the development of the forthcoming Ministry of Justice sentencing and rehabilitation Green Paper and the cross-Government mental health strategy.

National Information Governance Board for Health and Social Care

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the National Information Governance Board for Health and Social Care in carrying out its functions.

Simon Burns: In accordance with the Department's normal practice in relation to its arm's length bodies, the National Information Governance Board for Health and Social Care (NIGB) is subject to regular reviews of its activities and performance. The overall performance of NIGB is deemed to be satisfactory.

NHS: Advertising

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the cost-effectiveness of NHS expenditure on radio advertising; and if he will make a statement.

Anne Milton: No central assessment has been conducted by the Department of cost-effectiveness of national health service expenditure on radio advertising by the NHS. Since local NHS organisations are responsible for the mix of channels which are selected for any advertising they deem necessary some NHS organisations may have carried out such research. However any such assessments are not held centrally by the Department and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. We do nevertheless expect NHS organisations to seek the best value for money from their advertising and to evaluate the effectiveness of any campaigns as a whole.

NHS: Advertising

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department expects to have spent on  (a) radio advertising by the NHS and  (b) other advertising not related to job vacancies in 2010-11.

Anne Milton: The Department does not hold records of national health service spending on radio or other advertising centrally and this information could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
	The Department does however expect NHS organisations to seek the best value for money from any advertising they deem necessary.

NHS: Finance

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the  (a) absolute cash,  (b) percentage cash,  (c) real terms percentage and  (d) real terms absolute reduction to the NHS capital budget in respect of the next spending review period.

Simon Burns: The following table shows the requested information.
	
		
			  The Department of Health control total capital departmental expenditure level (CDEL) 
			  Departmental spending review CDEL (£ million)  2010-11  2011-12  2012-13  2013-14  2014-15  Total change 2010-11 to 2014-15 
			 Nominal/cash CDEL 5,122 4,429 4,429 4,437 4,648 - 
			 Nominal/cash change  -693 0 8 211 -474 
			 Percentage nominal/cash change  -13.5% 0.0% 0.2% 4.8% -9.3% 
			
			 Real terms CDEL(1) 5,122 4,344 4,248 4,147 4,232  
			 Real terms change  -778 -96 -101 85 -890 
			 Percentage real terms change  -15.2% -2.2% -2.4% 2.0% -17.4% 
			 (1) Calculated using Gross Domestic Product forecasts from June 2010 Budget 
		
	
	The cash reduction in departmental capital budget from the 2010-11 baseline is £474 million. The percentage cash reduction is 9.3%. The real terms reduction is 17.4%. The real terms absolute reduction in 2010-11 prices is £890 million.

NHS: Finance

Derek Twigg: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate his Department has made of the cost to its Department of  (a) departmental reorganisation and  (b) the abolition of (i) primary care trusts and (ii) strategic health authorities proposed in the Health White Paper.

Simon Burns: The White Paper 'Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS' laid out proposals for fundamental changes to the ways that the national health service is structured and run, including for the structures of primary care trusts, strategic health authorities and the Department. The precise costs of the transition to the new system will not be known until the new organisations that will underpin the new system have been designed in more detail.
	Four consultations relating to how the new organisations should be designed- specifically covering 'transparency on outcomes', 'liberating the NHS: local democratic legitimacy in health' and 'commissioning for patients and regulating healthcare providers'-have recently closed and once the results of these have been analysed we will publish the costs of the new system in an impact assessment.
	A further two consultations on other aspects of reform set out in the White Paper-specifically 'an information revolution' and 'greater choice and control' have recently been launched and will close in January.

NHS: Sick Leave

John Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many days were lost through sickness absence in the NHS in  (a) 2008 and  (b) 2009.

Simon Burns: The information is not available in the format requested. The data collected are the sickness absence rate, i.e. the percentage of available working time lost to sickness absence.
	The sickness absence rate in the national health service was 4.4%, in the 12 months April 2008 to March 2009 and 4.4% in the 12 months April 2009 to March 2010.

NHS: Spending Review

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health excluding the allocation for social care services from the budget for NHS health care, what estimate he has made of the real terms percentage change  (a) in the next spending review period and  (b) from year to year in each year from 2010-11 to 2014-15 in respect of his Department's Resource Departmental Expenditure Limit.

Simon Burns: The Department has identified funding of £0.8 billion/£0.9 billion/£1.1 billion/£1.0 billion of health capital funding that has been transferred into health revenue. This health revenue will be spent on measures that support social care and benefit health. For example, the funding includes up to £300 million for reablement.
	Funding that is spent on social care also has a health benefit: if the social care system fails, the national health service will face costs from increased hospital admissions and bed blocking. For this reason, the support being given to the NHS is not a case of funding being "taken out" of health care, but of it being used to support health care.
	Therefore, it is not appropriate to recalculate growths in the NHS health care budget net of funding earmarked to support social care and benefit health.

Offences Against Children: Suffolk

Daniel Poulter: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what services funded by his Department are available to support adults resident in Suffolk who were subjected to sexual abuse in childhood.

Paul Burstow: Local primary care trusts (PCTs) are responsible for assessing and commissioning health services to meet the needs of the local population and that includes support for adults who were subject to sexual abuse in childhood.
	The Department is providing up to £1.6 million in 2010-11 to improve access to and the quality of sexual assault referral centres (SARCs). SARCs provide a one stop location where victims of sexual assault can receive forensic medical examinations, access to crisis workers and follow up support counselling. Survivors of historic abuse will be able to access follow up counselling through some SARCs.
	East of England Strategic Health Authority has advised that Suffolk PCT and Great Yarmouth and Waveney PCT have been able to secure a capital grant to develop a SARC in Ipswich, which will be opening by the end of 2010. The Ipswich SARC will be able to receive referrals or self-referrals to help victims of historic sexual abuse.

Parkinson's Disease

David Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he plans to take to ensure that people with Parkinson's disease continue to receive care of at least the same standard in subsequent years as has been provided in the last 12 months.

Paul Burstow: Primary care trust commissioners continue to have responsibility for commissioning services, using the National Service Framework for long-term neurological services, that reflect the needs of their patients living with Parkinson's disease.
	In future, outcomes, which the national health service will be expected to achieve, will be set via the NHS Outcomes Framework, and the NHS Commissioning Board will hold general practitioner commissioners to account for delivery through the framework.

Respite Care: Finance

Andrew Bridgen: To ask the Secretary of State for Health by what means he plans to ring-fence the newly allocated budget for respite care; and what mechanisms will be in place for  (a) application for and  (b) allocation of funds from that budget.

Paul Burstow: We have not announced a budget for respite care. We will set out the detail of our plans to support carers in our update of the Carers' Strategy later this year.

Sexual Health and HIV Independent Advisory Group

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment he has made of the performance of the Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV.

Anne Milton: The Independent Advisory Group on Sexual Health and HIV was set up in 2003 to provide advice and monitor progress on the implementation of "The National Strategy for Sexual Health and HIV (2001)". A formal review of the membership of the advisory group took place in January 2007 renewing some members, including the chair and vice chairs and terminating others. The Department also continuously monitored the performance of the advisory group through attendance at the group's quarterly meetings and through regular contact with the chair.
	Following the Department's review of advisory non-departmental public bodies (ANDPBs), this group is to be abolished and replaced by a stakeholder advisory group on sexual health. This group will provide advice to departmental officials rather than direct to Ministers. Terms of reference for the group have yet to be agreed.
	As part of the implementation of the changes to the Department's ANDPBs, we will be implementing a periodic review process (three yearly), of all our significant advisory committees and ANDPBs which will incorporate an assessment of performance and effectiveness. Wherever possible this will be conducted by an independent expert.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases: Ealing

Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many new cases of each type of sexually transmitted infection there were in Ealing Southall constituency in each year since 2007.

Anne Milton: Data are not collected on a constituency basis and it is therefore not possible to provide data for the Ealing Southall constituency. The data available are presented in the following tables. The number of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in London strategic health authority (SHA) and Ealing primary care trust (PCT) from genitourinary medicine clinics (GUM) are presented in Table 1. The number of Chlamydia diagnoses made in community-based settings (non-GUM sites) are presented in Table 2.
	
		
			  Table 1: Number of STI diagnoses seen at genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics( 2) , 2007-09 
			London SHA  Ealing PCT 
			   STI diagnoses  2007  2008  2009 
			 A1, A2 Primary and secondary infectious syphilis 867 646 7 
			 A3 Early latent syphilis (first 2 years) 348 307 9 
			 A4, A5, A6 Other acquired syphilis 960 818 27 
			 A7 Congenital syphilis, aged under 2 (1)- (1)- 0 
			 A8 Congenital syphilis, aged 2 or over (1)- (1)- 0 
			 A9 Epidemiological treatment of suspected syphilis 482 514 11 
			 B1, B2 Uncomplicated gonorrhoea 6,448 5,571 124 
			 B3 Gonococcal ophthalmia neonatorum 9 12 (1)- 
			 B4 Epidemiological treatment of suspected gonorrhoea 3,167 3,178 62 
			 B5 Complicated gonococcal infection-including pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and epididymitis 110 109 (1)- 
			 C1, C2, C3 Chancroid/lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV)/Donovanosis 234 170 5 
			 C4A, C4C Uncomplicated genital chlamydial infection 21,884 21,293 648 
			 C4B Complicated genital chlamydial infection-including PID and epididymitis 647 659 28 
			 C4D Chlamydial ophthalmia neonatorum 6 5 (1)- 
			 C4E Epidemiological treatment of suspected genital chlamydial infection 13,023 12,695 385 
			 C4H Uncomplicated non-gonococcal/non-specific urethritis in males, or treatment of mucopurulent cervicitis in females 25,577 20,763 624 
			 C4I Epidemiological treatment of non-specific genital infection 6,651 5,287 149 
			 C5 Complicated infection (non-chlamydial/non-gonococcal)-including PID and epididymitis 7,148 7,226 242 
			 C6A Trichomoniasis 2,747 2,575 50 
			 C8, C9 Scabies/pediculosis pubis 609 586 24 
			 C10A Anogenital herpes simplex-first episode 6,020 6,116 215 
			 C10B Anogenital herpes simplex-recurrence 4,360 4,400 188 
			 C11A Anogenital warts-first episode 13,695 13,647 475 
			 C11B Anogenital warts-recurrence 8,853 8,631 352 
			 C11C Anogenital warts-re-registered cases 2,975 3,076 117 
			 C12 Molluscum contagiosum 3,258 3,230 98 
			 E1A New HIV diagnosis-asymptomatic 2,436 1,835 32 
			 E1B Asymptomatic HIV infection-subsequent presentation 0 0 0 
			 E1BE2B Subsequent HIV presentation (not AIDS) 18,525 20,197 240 
			 E2A New HIV diagnosis: symptomatic (not AIDS) 273 302 (1)- 
			 E2B HIV infection with symptoms, not AIDS-subsequent presentation 0 0 0 
			 E3A AIDS-first presentation 0 0 0 
			 E3A1 AIDS: first presentation-new HIV diagnosis 106 70 (1)- 
			 E3A2 AIDS: first presentation-HIV diagnosed previously 82 82 (1)- 
			 E3B AIDS-subsequent presentation 5,476 5,706 57 
			  
			 - Total new STI diagnoses 92,407 85,105 2,588 
			 - Total other STT diagnoses 64,574 64,604 1,592 
			 (1) Cell size of 1 to 4 have been masked to protect deductive disclosure in accordance with ONS guidelines for PCT level data.  (2) Data for 2007 and 2008 are presented for London SHA, by SHA of GUM clinic attended. Data for 2009 are presented for patients resident in Ealing PCT.   Notes:  1. The data available from the KC60 (2008 and earlier) and GUMCAD (2009 onwards) returns are for diagnoses made in genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics only. Diagnoses made in other clinical settings, such as general practice, are not recorded in the GUMCAD dataset.  2. The data available from the KC60 and GUMCAD returns are the number of diagnoses made, not the number of patients diagnosed.  3. Data are available only at the SHA level before 2009.  4. The information provided has been adjusted for missing clinic data.   Source:  Health Protection Agency, KC60 and Genitourinary Medicine Clinic Activity Dataset (GUMCAD) returns. Date of data: 25 August 2010. 
		
	
	
		
			  Table 2: Number of  Chlamydia  diagnoses in 15 to 24-year-olds resident within Ealing PCT, made in community-based settings, 2007-09 
			   2007  2008  2009 
			 Community-based Chlamydia diagnoses 24 (1)111 277 
			 (1) Collection of non-NCSP, non-GUM data commenced from April 2008.   Notes:  1. The NCSP has been phased in since 1 April 2003 with all 152 PCTs reporting data to the programme since March 2008. Therefore numbers of diagnoses have risen substantially as the proportion of sexually active under 25-year-olds who have been tested has increased.  2. The data from the NCSP Core Dataset and the Non NCSP Non GUM are for positive Chlamydia screens made outside of GUM clinics.  3. The NCSP data are for positive Chlamydia screens conducted outside of GUM clinics.  4. The data available from the NCSP are the number of diagnoses made and not the number of patients diagnosed.  5. NSCP data exclude those resident outside of England.   Source:  Health Protection Agency, National Chlamydia Screening Programme (NCSP), NCSP returns and Non NCSP Non GUM data. Date of data-NCSP Data: 16 August 2010; Non NCSP Non GUM Data: 5 August 2010.

Surgery: North West

David Nuttall: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many operations were cancelled in hospitals in the North West in 2009; what the cost was of such cancelled operations in that year; and what steps his Department is taking to reduce the number of cancelled operations.

Simon Burns: In 2009, there were a total of 8,689 cancelled operations in the north-west and 63,135 in England. The quarterly breakdown is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  Number of last minute cancelled operations for non-clinical reasons 
			   Quarter  Period  England  North-west 
			 2008-09 4 January to March 2009 19,863 2,455 
			 2009-10 1 April to June 2009 13,960 2,113 
			 2009-10 2 July to September 2009 13,547 1,936 
			 2009-10 3 October to December 2009 15,765 2,185 
			   Total for 2009 63,135 8,689 
			  Source: Department of Health dataset quarterly monitoring cancelled operations 
		
	
	Information on the cost of cancelled elective operations is not collected centrally. It is the responsibility of individual national health service trusts to manage the day-to-day running of their organisations. As part of this, they have a responsibility to ensure that they have the necessary staff, theatre space and beds available to keep cancellations to an absolute minimum.